Frank Lucas: “Mr. Speaker, I do rise in opposition to this motion. I think my good and dear friends are well intended. I think they…”

“Mr. Speaker, I do rise in opposition to this motion. I think my good and dear friends are well intended. I think they believe that they are sincerely trying to do something positive. But I would say to you, this process that we are working through is a complicated, challenging process. Ultimately, the final goal of any farm bill is to take the limited resources that we have and use them in a way to achieve the maximum benefit for our fellow Americans, whether that is enhancing the quality of the environment through the conservation programs, or making sure that the world's safest and yet most affordable food supply continues to be available to everyone. Let's think for a moment about what farm bills represent. The first comprehensive Federal farm bill was not passed until 1933 in the depths of the great economic depression, and, in my region of the country, the great droughts of the 1930s. It was an effort to prevent rural America from disintegrating. It was an effort to make sure that food and fiber remained available to all American consumers at a price that they could afford.”