Byron Dorgan: “What he is describing is a bipartisan agreement on legislation that is critical to our part of the country. It deals not…”

“What he is describing is a bipartisan agreement on legislation that is critical to our part of the country. It deals not only with research, but also with crop insurance. It deals with critically needed investment for research in crop diseases such as fusarium head blight or scab which produces vomitoxin in wheat and barley. We have an awful problem out in our part of the country with these crop diseases and crop losses. We need a viable crop insurance program. We were delighted when the Senator from Iowa and the Senator from Indiana and others reached this bipartisan agreement and moved it through the conference with the House of Representatives. I know how hard that was. That was a tough thing to do because the sides were quite far apart. When they reached this agreement, we were delighted with that. It is an important agreement. Now, as usual, in the case of politics, timing is everything. It is very important for this bipartisan conference agreement to be considered by the Senate and moved along. Time is of the essence here.”