Angie Craig: “for just a few moments I would like to agree with the Senator from North Dakota on a couple of points that he just made.…”

“for just a few moments I would like to agree with the Senator from North Dakota on a couple of points that he just made. But I would also like to disagree with him on a few other points. He, like I, voted against the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, and we both voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement because we felt they were not properly negotiated. We felt both agreements had loopholes in them. The Senator from North Dakota has pointed out some of those loopholes. What we disagree on is the sense-of-the-Senate resolution that is before us now which clearly outlines what a lot of farm and commodity groups in this country feel they need this Congress and this administration to do to improve the situation down on the farm. The Senator from North Dakota is right. The situation down on the farm is not very good right now. There are a lot of farmers losing money. But the Government should not dictate rules to farmers, and the Government should not be the total safety net. In a free enterprise system, such as ours, there should be an element of risk. In the 1996 FAIR Act, Congress have offered farmers flexibility along with that risk. Today, the Senate must decide how to shape that flexibility in a way to assure that farmers can make a safe transition to Freedom to Farm. This is where the Senator from North Dakota and I disagree.”