Kent Conrad: “this is a landmark achievement. Let me indicate to my colleagues we have counted the votes--79 votes for this bill--and…”

“this is a landmark achievement. Let me indicate to my colleagues we have counted the votes--79 votes for this bill--and there are more votes for a farm bill than any farm bill going back to 1973, and that is with the Presidential candidates missing. That would have been another four votes. No farm bill has had more votes than this bipartisan bill since 1973. That is a tribute to our leadership, the chairman of the committee, Senator Harkin, who came to this bill with a vision for moving agriculture in a new direction. This is a good beginning--not everything the chairman would have liked, and some of us had interests that had to be addressed. So we were ready to follow his leadership, but we also had to deal with some of the realities of our individual States, and I know the chairman recognizes that. But we applaud him for his vision because this bill moves in a different direction. We have additional resources, important additional resources for conservation and for nutrition. The people of this country will look back on this bill, and they will also see the beginning of very important reform. The end of the three-entity rule, the direct attribution, dramatic reduction in adjusted gross income for nonfarmers. It will go from $2.5 million down to $750,000. This bill is good for the economy and it is paid for. So we all salute the chairman and his staff: Mark Halverson, the staff director, who has been so dedicated to this cause.”