Byron Dorgan: “to suggest that perhaps we believe that farmers were getting too much money, nothing could be further from the truth. A…”

“to suggest that perhaps we believe that farmers were getting too much money, nothing could be further from the truth. A whole lot of farmers are not getting enough help when they need it. The reason is because we don't have enough money in the farm program to provide a decent safety net. We have money leaking out the back door in the form of millions of dollars of payments to big corporate agrifactories. I have some examples. We have all heard these and read about them. Constance Bowles, a prominent San Francisco art collector, from 2003 to 2005 received $1.2 million. Her husband received an equivalent amount during that period. Mark Burkett, a bonafide farmer, received payments for corn, wheat, cotton, peanuts, and sorghum from 2003 to 2005 totaling $1.8 million. Tommy Dildine collected $1.04 million. By the way, his wife Betty received exactly the same amount down to the penny. That is just over $2 million for that couple. I could go on. Is this a safety net helping family farmers? I don't think so.”