Bob Kerrey: “I rise in support of this crop insurance conference report. As my colleagues from the Agriculture Committee are well…”

“I rise in support of this crop insurance conference report. As my colleagues from the Agriculture Committee are well aware, this legislation has been a work in progress for a good long time. The final package we reached with the House and that we bring to the floor today is a very good bill. Farmers in my home state of Nebraska are going to be very pleased with it, as are farmers of all types of crops all across the Nation. The major provisions of this bill reflect just what we heard when Senator Roberts and I asked farm and lending groups what they wanted in this legislation, nearly one and a half years ago. At that time, they asked for more affordable coverage, equity for revenue insurance, more new and innovative policies from the private sector and a better program for specialty crops. This bill includes all of those provisions. Although we've provided additional subsidies to buy crop insurance for the past two years, this bill makes them permanent law. And we go one step further by increasing subsidies even higher at the very highest levels of coverage--a provision that would have been especially helpful to farmers this year, as a broad stretch of the Midwest and South face severe drought. The final bill moves the Risk Management Agency in what I strongly feel is the right direction, toward being a regulator instead of competitor.”