Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, after 8 weeks of negotiations and countless hours of discussions between the House and the Senate Agriculture Committees, I am more than pleased to rise today in support of the conference report on the Agriculture Risk Protection Act. The conference report on H.R. 2559 is really an excellent piece of legislation that accomplishes what we set out to accomplish, that is, making crop insurance more affordable and easier to use for all of our producers. Under the leadership of the gentleman from Texas (Chairman Combest), and, yes, the ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), the House Committee on Agriculture listened to producers' suggestions, complaints and stories of fraud. We then developed and passed the bill, with the help of the Committee on the Budget, to address those concerns and greatly improve the program. I am pleased that the conference report will increase premium subsidies for producers, address actual production history discrepancies, fund research and development for new insurance policies and products, and make certain that the program is not fraudulently used or abused.”