Political Quotes

“The list includes the American Seed Trade Association, the National Farmers Union, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association, numerous universities, and nearly 100 other farm, agricultural, and research groups. This agreement again is supported by all these stakeholders that understand the importance to American farmers, American commercial interests, and American consumers. I am deeply grateful to Chairman Corker and my colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee who worked hard to advance these treaties to the Senate floor. My only regret is that I hoped we would have considered these two worthy, uncontroversial treaties earlier. Both the Hague Securities Convention and the plant genetic treaty provide tangible benefits to the United States and its stakeholders. Neither requires changes to U.S. law. Let me repeat that. Neither of these treaties would require us to change U.S. law. The Hague convention was signed by the United States in 2006 and has been awaiting ratification in this body since 2012. The plant genetics treaty was submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2008, received a hearing on November 10, 2009, and was reported by the committee in December 2010. Almost 6 years later, it still has not been considered by the full Senate. We can do better. I am hopeful the Senate will soon act to ratify these two treaties.…”