Angie Craig: “I will not stand before any of the Members of the Senate today and attempt to justify large multinational…”

“I will not stand before any of the Members of the Senate today and attempt to justify large multinational, billion-dollar corporations getting taxpayer-subsidized promotion programs. That needs to be reformed, no question about it. In the committee this year we have reduced the overall level of funding from $110 to $100 million. But the reason the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee, who just spoke, and the reason I am on the floor defending the program is because we are trying to take the Government out of production agriculture and put the Government in the right and proper role as it relates to its relationship to domestic industries. And that is for small producers who have to compete against subsidized producers in foreign countries, our Government should serve as a leveler of the playing field. That is where our Government can work best. We know that in our country today for American agriculture to flourish, it must sell in foreign markets. And, oh, yes, by the way, every item that one of those companies sells in many instances is produced by a small producer and sold to that company that then markets it in a foreign country. That is the other side of the story. But what I am interested in are the marketing co-ops and the associations that go to countries to develop markets so that we can sell to them directly our products. That is where market promotion works at its very best. That is what the ag committee is really trying to get at.”