Byron Dorgan: “The Senator from South Dakota, Senator Johnson, states it exactly as it is. I have said before, this particular…”

“The Senator from South Dakota, Senator Johnson, states it exactly as it is. I have said before, this particular amendment gives modesty an understated reputation, in my judgment. It is too modest for my taste. I certainly am going to support it. I certainly will support it because it does increase the loan rate, albeit to a level that is far too low. It does increase the loan rate some. It does extend the time in which a farmer can use that marketing loan to better market their grain; and certainly we ought to do that. If we say, as a consistent philosophy, farmers should go to the marketplace for their price, then you must give farmers the time to access the marketplace when the price might be better than it is just after harvest. Normally, just after harvest they truck that grain to the elevator and--guess what--they find prices that are not very high. It would be better for them to hold it and wait until it is in their advantage to market it. The Senator from South Dakota describes it as it exactly is. This does not, in any way, unravel the tenets of the current farm program. Would I like to unravel it? You bet your life I would. I do not support it. I never did. I think it is a terrible farm program. Does the planning flexibility make sense? Yes, it does. I support that fully.”