This is a very troubling issue for one simple reason: What if anybody were allowed to put in a garden and at the same time were prohibited from doing any weeding or watering or doing anything to make it produce--prevented from fundamental…

this amendment provides that nothing in section 134 of the fiscal year 2002 Interior bill shall impact ongoing litigation involving the Department of the Interior and the Sac and Fox Nation. This language has previously been passed by the…

I cannot sit idly by and not offer some comment on the Senator's statement. No. 1, the Senator has flopped the money in regard to the President's budget. I might add that at least the president completed a budget. Seventy percent of this…

I think I would be remiss as ranking member on this committee and a comanager on this bill if I did not fight for the rights of the rest of the Members in this body to have a vote. I think it is what it is all about. That is for debate. I…

I am struck by what we are debating off the floor, which is timber health. At the heart of that is how we deal with judicial appeals, which has brought a new dynamic to that debate on forest health and how we manage our public lands; that…

In other words, those who oppose this amendment have not seen fit to come to the floor. That is the dilemma in which we find ourselves.

I would like to make another note about this process being hijacked for the last year and a half. When we started talking about drought and disaster relief and agriculture, the number was much smaller. In the meantime, we did pass a farm…

Let me just say a few words on behalf of the drought amendment that is before the Senate. We are concerned about the drought as it happened in this area that has been expanded. We have been in a drought situation in Montana for about 5…

there is no problem which more directly affects the security of our forces in the Middle East and particularly in Afghanistan than our ability to communicate with the local population. To solve this problem we must enhance DoD support on…

words cannot express the outrage I felt when I heard this decision. There will be those of us who will express it in different words than probably lawyers will. A couple of weeks ago we were visited and addressed by the Prime Minister of…

Agricultural legislation is, of course, very important to the State of Montana. There is no question about a changed policy on how we serve agriculture. There is no doubt in my mind that this bill will not bring lower prices for food…

I feel strongly about this measure. As Senator Baucus said earlier, this whole idea started in Montana, and we've seen the kind of effect it can have there, so I feel confident that a federal broadband credit can have a similar effect in…

In addition to the GAO study, I wish to bring your attention to a voluntary effort to address emissions from the aviation sector, known as the ``EPA/FAA Local Air Quality Initiative.'' As part of this voluntary initiative, the…

I think the Senator from Virginia has picked up a big part of the responsibility of furthering the agenda of high technology because our States do have a lot of similarity, such as in distance learning and telemedicine. These areas are…

This country needs a comprehensive energy policy. Last fall, this country was shaken to its foundation. That experience has made each of us stand back and make decisions about what is really important in our lives. As I have traveled…

I rise today to recognize Eric Bergoust, a distinguished freestyle skier from Missoula MT. At the age of 31, Eric has attained nearly every milestone that inspires athletes to achieve their dreams. He is an Olympic champion, a world…

I rise today in joining the Secretary of Agriculture in applauding the decision that was reached by our U.S. Trade Representative this morning on the 301 investigation into the Canadian Wheat Board and on durum wheat. I think Minnesota is…

I think this gets down to where we really want to be in cleaning up this situation on voting lists, registrations, and everything that goes with elections. Whenever you have a list that is inaccurate, whether it be by address or by name or…

I raise two points. Members on this side of the issue spend a lot of time talking about 'shadows.' Senators have to ask themselves, why is this in this bill, No. 1; and, No. 2, why is it important? What is the reason for it? Have we been…

I take issue with their numbers. However, I will not take issue with the recommendation made from the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture. We need to complete some sort of a comprehensive study of rural areas and the impact that CRP…

One of the amendments limits the number of acres--these will be the new acres coming into the system or any acres that are renewed--a farmer can enroll in the CRP. What we are seeing in rural America is that instead of selling the farm or…

I am still a little concerned about on what bill this amendment is being offered. I want this to pass, and I would hate to see it passed in the Senate and we get a good warm and fuzzy feeling inside and then we lose it in conference or we…

Building on what the Senator from Kansas said, plus the fact we protect the integrity and improve insurance again, we add some more dollars to it so the farmer can deal with the risk of losing a crop. On the point made by the Senator from…

If farm programs that contain target prices were going to save the family farm, we have 50 years of that experiment to study and still we are losing farmers from the land. If they were going to work in the last 50 years, surely we would…

this amendment also deals with conservation reserve. The original intent was to take those marginal and erodible acres out of production and set them aside. This amendment pays the landowner more for the acres that he sets aside that are…