Marty Walsh: “we have all afternoon heard about these terrible corporate welfare programs. The reformers are out to knock off these…”

“we have all afternoon heard about these terrible corporate welfare programs. The reformers are out to knock off these corporate welfare programs and sugar and tobacco and peanuts, and now apples and grapes. Do my colleagues not understand that what we are doing is we are going after the American farmer? My distinguished colleague from downstate New York, where all the people are, does he realize that upstate New York is where a lot of the food comes from, and he is well in the same State, and when he comes upstate to talk about whatever it is that he wants to talk about, we are going to remind him that the farmers in upstate New York benefit from these programs. These are small farmers. We heard the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] talk about the peanut farmer who is going to be hit when we went after these big corporations. American corporations are in a global market. When in a market place, there is need to advertise; if in a global market, advertise globally. The apple farmers in New York State and Washington State and Oregon and Michigan have benefited from this program. Let me just cite one example. A couple of years ago the French apple crop failed. Many of those apples found their way to Israel. The New York State Commissioner of Agriculture, using market promotion funds, was able to go to the Israel marketplace, put our best foot forward, and we sold that market millions of dollars' worth of apples. That was a successful program.”