Angie Craig: “In everything I say, it is not a reflection on the work of the Senate, it is a reflection of reality, and 1996 doesn't…”

“In everything I say, it is not a reflection on the work of the Senate, it is a reflection of reality, and 1996 doesn't have anything to do with it. This is 2008, and agriculture today is considerably different than it was in 1996. Today on the news you are actually hearing some supermarkets talk about the shortage of a food supply. I don't know if we have ever talked food supply shortages--ever in my lifetime--for American consumers. If what the Chairman tells me is accurate, and I have no reason to doubt him--and Senator Chambliss has done a wonderful job of keeping me and our colleagues informed--but collectively you have told this Senate more in the last 10 minutes than we have heard in a month from the collective principals on where we are with the progress. If by next week you have completed your work and we are simply ready to ink it and get it into a final package--I told Senator Chambliss I wouldn't be on the floor today if that had happened this week. But it has not happened. You have made progress. What is wrong, Mr. Chairman, with coming back here at the end of next week, reporting your work product and saying: Give us another extension and we will put it in final. That is a report to American agriculture, the kind they now deserve, more than they did 6 months ago. This is the fourth extension you have asked for, and I am simply saying I will give you one more, but you said it--the House is going out tomorrow.…”