Byron Dorgan: “Let me ask the Senator from Mississippi a question about something that will come up later this week that I know is…”

“Let me ask the Senator from Mississippi a question about something that will come up later this week that I know is important to many of us, including the Senator from Mississippi. I am very concerned about trying to get us to move a piece of farm legislation. I know there are people with very different views about what kind of farm bill would best serve the interests of family farmers in this country in the future. Some say, the so-called Freedom to Farm Act must be passed, or else. Others say that there is the Farm Security Act's marketing loans, and other things. In your part of the country, in Mississippi, we are in the circumstance where farmers are ready to go into the fields at some point soon. I confess that, as of an hour ago when I last talked to somebody in North Dakota, there is not anybody close to starting up a tractor and going into a field today because it is awfully cold there today. But down south people are close to starting to want to do spring's work.”