Trent Lott: “I did it for a reason. Mr. President, if I could respond to the Senator's comments, this is not a controversial issue.…”

“I did it for a reason. Mr. President, if I could respond to the Senator's comments, this is not a controversial issue. This is an issue that I am sure that all agriculture Members would very much like for us to get resolved. There is no budget impact. All it does is say that this allows farmers suffering from drought, El Nino, fire, and other natural disasters to begin considering and receiving emergency transition payments that they are entitled to under the Freedom to Farm Act. As a matter of fact, I understand that it will allow them to get these benefits in October rather than having to wait until January. I did it for a reason. If we don't get it resolved before we get to a final vote, then objections later on tonight would make it impossible for us to get any consideration. If the Senator would indicate to me that there is some idea that we could get this agreed to tonight, I would be glad to work with him like I always do. But the timing was such that we have to do it now in order to get it considered, or it could be objected to after Senators have gone, and we would not get it completed. I am trying to complete action so that we can go through a long list of Executive Calendar nominations, so that we could complete some more of them tomorrow. If we don't do these two issues now, they are basically gone until September.”