Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, agriculture is in a serious situation right now. Times are tough in farm country. While the rest of the economy is booming, American farmers and ranchers have not been invited to the party. Commodity prices, as the gentlewoman from Wisconsin indicated, are at record lows, export markets are shriveling up, and no relief is expected any time soon. While the farm credit system is currently sound, there are some producers who just will not be able to make ends meet in the short term. Some bankruptcy filings are inevitable. In my district, a hog producer, a pork farmer, called me last week. He is the fourth generation on that farm. He is as smart as most any entrepreneur of small business. Yet because of prices, even with his efforts to lay off workers and to expand his working week to 55 or 60 hours, it still looks like that family farm may not make it. Chapter 12 of the title 11 bankruptcy code is only available to family farmers.”