Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I just want to wholeheartedly disagree with my colleague on the other side of the aisle and the premise of this amendment. I serve on the Agriculture Committee. I have been a farmer much of my life. I represent a tremendous number of farmers, and I come from an agricultural State. I don't see what benefit it would be to farmers to put them at this level of disadvantage to take away this office that was there to support communication between the EPA and farmers. I will admit it is not always an easy relationship between farmers and the EPA. Sometimes there are challenges that go on there, certainly with waters of the U.S., which we have debated at length in the Agriculture Committee. I know it is really important for farmers to be heard so that when regulations are made, they serve both our environment and the farmers. You can actually do both. When I hear people dismissing climate change or calling them ridiculous policies that are enacted by this administration, I think they don't really understand the challenges that farmers are facing today. Farmers are the first ones impacted by the adverse weather we have, whether it is extreme drought or extreme cold. In my State of Maine, we have had unusual temperatures, cold weather late into the spring that has frozen the blossoms on our fruit trees or drought in the middle of the summer when it wasn't expected, rainy summers where we can't manage all of the water or flooding that impacts our farmers.…”