Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today in opposition to an amendment that would eliminate the Sugar Program, and I urge my colleagues to table it at this time. As we continue our work on the farm bill, as we debate these amendments, I think my colleagues should keep in mind at every moment that this proposal contains $23 billion in cuts that we have brought together on a bipartisan basis, and two-thirds of those cuts--$16 billion--is on only 14 percent of the bill; that is, the farm programs. Two-thirds of the cuts: $16 billion on the farm program. This bill is supported by 630 conservation groups, nutrition groups-- a number of them. Obviously, they would like to see changes. People want to make things better. But if we do not get this bill done, you can imagine what is going to happen to school hot lunches and the like. Unfortunately, eliminating the Sugar Program would actually hurt jobs in America. I know Senator Conrad was here earlier putting the facts out, but people need to know the facts. This is a zero-cost program that supports 142,000 jobs and generates nearly $20 billion in economic activity. This is the kind of value we are looking for. I believe we need to be doing everything we can to maintain programs that are working for our farmers in an efficient way--programs that are supporting jobs and putting dollars into our economy, especially those programs that do not cost money. Most of us can appreciate the value of a strong farm safety net.…”