Political Quotes

“Madam President, while I very much appreciate the amendment of Senator Durbin and Senator Coburn, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. Crop insurance is insurance, and the farmer gets a bill not a check. They get a bill. The question is whether we are going to provide a discount so it is an affordable policy. We ended subsidies through direct payments. We want them to move to a voluntary system of crop insurance. The bill they get has to be a bill they can afford to be able to provide the coverage, and then there is no payout unless they have a loss, such as a flood, drought, or whatever has happened. It is insurance. There are several reasons this is not the same vote the Senate took last year on this amendment. With the historic agreement to attach conservation compliance to crop insurance--potentially reducing the acres and numbers of producers covered by crop insurance--will only reduce the environmental benefits and could lead to draining wetlands and plowing highly erodable land. Let me say this another way: Of course most of the crop insurance goes to the largest farmers because they have the most land to insure. Just by definition, the larger the insurance policy, the more they are trying to cover. The question is--and the reason conservationists and environmentalists have come together--is because they want the large tracts to become conservation compliant.…”