Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise in support of this very important bill. First, I wish to thank Senator Stabenow for her leadership, as well as the Senator from Mississippi. It was a true bipartisan effort. As I heard her list all the names of these wonderful staff people who worked on this bill, I also wish to mention my staff director Adam Durand. The other thing I wish to mention is this wouldn't have happened without Senator Stabenow, with her ever optimistic view, never giving up on this bill. It has been 354 days since the Senate passed its last farm bill--I have been counting it down--and this is long overdue. This got done in record speed because we had gone through all of these issues, 70- something amendments, last time, and this time we were able to get the farm bill through the Agriculture Committee in record time--in 3 hours. Now it is on the floor, and I predict we will have strong bipartisan support. You ask why. First of all, last year our country experienced the worst drought since 1956, costing the country tens of billions of dollars. In Minnesota 74 counties were eligible for disaster relief due to drought. This year the late spring and wet conditions have prevented many farmers in my State from even getting their crop into the ground. Dairy farmers have been especially hurt because of the alfalfa shortage because of the rot because of the water.…”