David Minge: “I certainly share with my colleague from California who introduced this amendment a level of discomfort with the market…”

“I certainly share with my colleague from California who introduced this amendment a level of discomfort with the market promotion program, the way it was structured several years ago. But the fact of the matter is the program has been adjusted. The most difficult to justify portions of the program have been eliminated, and what we are left with is generally a program that is promoting American agricultural products in foreign markets in a way that benefits farmers as opposed to benefiting corporate America. I visited some of these offices, particularly in Japan. I have seen the men and the women that work for the Federal Government and work for some of the commodity groups present their material to the public in those countries, and I know that what they are doing is introducing American agricultural products to foreign consumers to build markets for American agricultural products, to open new opportunities for farmers in the United States, and I urge my colleagues to join in supporting this program. There is no sector of the American economy that is more troubled than farming.”