Kent Conrad: “I think back to the Interior appropriations bill. I don't know how many days that was on the floor here. It was day…”

“I think back to the Interior appropriations bill. I don't know how many days that was on the floor here. It was day after day after day. In fact, when I look back on the last several months, it is hard for me to recall our dealing with anything of great significance. In fact, there have been long periods where nothing was dealt with on the floor, and then we are told, ``Well, the future of family farmers that hangs in the balance, there is just not enough time to deal with that, not enough resources to deal with it.'' Interestingly enough, our competitors don't have that view. The Europeans, who are our major competitors, are spending $50 billion a year to support their producers. We spend $5 billion, and we wonder why we are losing the fight. We would never do this in a military confrontation, but in a trade confrontation we seem to think it is fine to say to our farmers, ``Well, you go out there and compete against the French farmer and the German farmer, and while your at it, go take on the French Government and the German Government as well.'' That is not a fair fight. I say to my colleague, it seems to me as though we have the time to make a difference in the lives of literally thousands of farm families all across America who are facing a financial disaster. This isn't some kind of downturn, this is a cliff, and thousands of farmers are being pushed right off it. The question is, What are we going to do?”