Political Quotes

“I thank Ranking Member Bishop for yielding time for me to oppose this quite unfortunate piece of legislation and quite harmful to agriculture. The majority can't produce a real farm bill, and they can't produce a budget on time. Now, this legislation today, as it stands, is riddled with divisive policy riders and detrimental funding cuts galore that will hurt American farmers and the American people. Republicans' efforts to slash funding by 41 percent across agriculture programs to 2000 levels cannot go unchecked. With the lowest funding in more than two decades, this bill weakens American competitiveness in the international marketplace and abandons our farmers. Our country already imports a third of our fresh fruits and vegetables. We need to produce those in our country because what America makes and grows, makes and grows America. Through this bill, Republicans also seek to starve the most exploited and vulnerable Americans of food, literally starve infants born to poor women by slashing the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children by $800 million, slashing hundreds of millions in farmers' procurement contracts in the process. Ohio has 179,262 WIC recipients, so if this bill would pass, many of these recipients--infants, toddlers, pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and postpartum women--will see their allotment drop to as little as, get ready, $11 per month or simply disappear entirely.…”