David Funderburk: “here we go again with the constant attack on tobacco in the form of another Durbin amendment. This amendment is being…”

“here we go again with the constant attack on tobacco in the form of another Durbin amendment. This amendment is being sold as an attempt to change smoking habits. As usual the label is misleading. It won't change smoking habits one bit. This legislation breaks a complex and time-honored agreement between the farmer, the Government, and the manufacturer. If this amendment passes, tobacco farmers would be the only farmers in America denied access to Government-funded research, education, and extension services for their crop. This amendment even denies tobacco farmers Federal crop insurance and sets up the taxpayers to absorb millions of dollars in defaulted farm loans. It imposes a politically correct gag rule on USDA officials by preventing southern farmers from accessing information which they paid for with their own tax dollars. If the authors also intend to wound multinational corporations they are off the mark. The big companies won't be hurt by this amendment. They will simply pack their bags, move off shore, and sell us foreign tobacco. So, the people this amendment really hurts, live in the small towns in my State and across the country. These law-abiding citizens don't sit on corporate boards or drive big cars, they merely ask the Congress to treat them fairly and on that count the Durbin amendment fails miserably. It is time for Durbin, Waxman, Kessler, and Clinton to stop picking on small tobacco farmers.”