Kent Conrad: “Mr. President, we are in 1996, and we are working on the 1995 farm bill. Something is wrong. What is wrong is that there…”

“Mr. President, we are in 1996, and we are working on the 1995 farm bill. Something is wrong. What is wrong is that there has been a failure to act. This is the first time since 1947 that a farm bill has lapsed before a new farm bill has been put in place. So we are late. Mr. President, it is critical that we act quickly so that farmers know the rules of the road as they proceed in this new crop year. This new farm bill has many positive elements. Let me talk about three. First, this farm bill retains permanent law. That is critically important because, at the end of this 7-year period, if we had followed the lead of the House, there would be nothing. There would be no permanent farm law. Farmers would have no assurance that there was provision for them in the future. Mr. President, we have had tough fights on this question, but permanent law has been preserved.”