Political Quotes

“I would like to engage in a colloquy with my good friends and colleagues the Senator from Michigan and Chair of the Agriculture Committee, Senator Stabenow, and the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Baucus from Montana. The Senate has been working the past few weeks to get an agreement to move forward and complete our work on the Farm Bill. The Senate Agriculture Committee passed a strong bipartisan bill out of the committee under the strong leadership of Senator Stabenow. The Farm Bill is a reform bill which cuts federal spending by $23 billion. This is a rare example, this Congress, of Senators working across the aisle to pass a bill which helps to expand our markets abroad, keep food on the table for working families, and ensure our conservation dollars are funding projects to protect the land for years to come. With all of the changes in the farm bill the largest changes have been made to the Commodity Title of the Farm Bill. Congress has eliminated direct payments for a market-based safety net which will pay producers when they actually experience a loss, known as the Agricultural Risk Coverage program. As direct payments are eliminated in this farm bill, how does the bill protect producers against multi-year price declines?”