Richard Burr: “I appreciate the generous offer from the ranking member. This is tough. Senator Tester is a friend, but he is misguided.…”

“I appreciate the generous offer from the ranking member. This is tough. Senator Tester is a friend, but he is misguided. The fact is that the law today has served us well in this country. I think it is vitally important for all Senators to realize that agriculture is a business that reacts and changes to market demands. We have put legislation into place that allows the markets to operate, and these laws serve as guidelines for farmers in how they make their business plans for the future. As a matter of fact, we are the envy of the rest of the world. The agricultural markets in this country, the hogs raised and sold and eaten, the chickens and the turkeys--and in North Carolina's case, we rank extremely high; we are No. 2 in hogs and turkey production. I daresay every person in the room, and even in America, has eaten pork from North Carolina at one point or another. One of the reasons hog farmers in my State have been able to grow and produce the best pork in the world is the regulatory forces that govern the livestock industry. What we are being asked to do in this amendment is to turn that on its head. Today, current law says if a producer wants to bring suit against a processor for injuries to the producer's business, they have to show that they have actually been injured.”