Political Quotes

“Under the gentleman's amendment, one of the programs that will survive for compensation is if you have got property and you fill in a wetland or do something else that might be contrary to general conservation policies today, you lose your right to subsidy under the Agricultural Subsidy Program. What the gentleman from Louisiana's amendment would do would be to restore that right. If, in fact, you have a piece of property that is ruled a wetland or otherwise, the Agriculture Department and others say should not be worked and you change the land and then plant on it, the gentleman from Louisiana says you can be eligible for a subsidy. So we are not only talking about taking away the value, we are talking about the owner taking conscious action which enhances the value of the land in the nature of a Government subsidy. Telling people they ought to be able to go and make these changes so they are eligible for agriculture subsidies seems to me a mistake. The amendment in 1985 said they could not do that, the amendment passed under Ronald Reagan and the Republican Senate, as well as a Democratic House. I think that is a mistake.”