Rod Grams: “I rise at this time to discuss an amendment that had been filed by Senator Kennedy to S. 1521, the farm bill. Like the…”

“I rise at this time to discuss an amendment that had been filed by Senator Kennedy to S. 1521, the farm bill. Like the Senator from Massachusetts, and also the chairman of the Labor and Human Resources Committee, Senator Kassebaum, I do support health care reform--specifically, improvements such as health insurance portability and putting an end to discrimination against those with preexisting conditions. As both a Member of the House and the Senate, I have worked for such reforms, and I look forward to supporting such legislation in the near future. But as they say, timing is everything. There are undoubtedly many people watching the Senate asking themselves what the Senator from Massachusetts is up to. I must confess to being one of them. The purpose of the farm bill was to give our Nation's farmers and the people they work with a clear roadmap of Federal farm policy with which to make the decisions this year about planting, equipment purchases, and loans. Given that that question remains, why would the Senator have been offering an amendment dealing with health insurance to the farm bill? In all honesty, I still do not know. It does not make sense. Unfortunately, a lot of what goes on sometimes does not make a lot of sense.”