Kent Conrad: “I must say I disagree with his conclusions about this farm bill. Let me just enumerate the reasons. First of all, while…”

“I must say I disagree with his conclusions about this farm bill. Let me just enumerate the reasons. First of all, while it is true a new budget resolution has not yet passed, it is also true under the rules of this body that the previous budget resolution guides our actions until the new budget resolution is passed. The budget resolution under which we are operating provides for the amount of money that is in this farm bill. This farm bill is entirely within the budget requirements under which we are operating. No. 2, every budget that has been presented for the next year includes this same amount of money. The budget the President has presented, the budget the House presented, the budget that has passed the Senate Budget Committee--each and every one of them has the same amount of money for a new farm bill that was in last year's budget resolution. So the question of what the budget resources are is not in doubt. The fact is, the Congressional Budget Office has provided an estimate of cost. That is always the case when the Senate and the House are considering legislation. They do an estimate of the cost. We operate under that cost until the job is finished. We don't change the estimates in the middle of the effort. We don't change the rules in the middle of the game.”