Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, why do we invest in agriculture? Because the ability to eat, to feed ourselves is one of the most fundamentally important things that goes on in an economy. We make those investments so that we will always have a sufficient supply of the highest quality food and fiber at the most affordable prices. Empires, countries, republics, democracies have been destroyed throughout history when they lost their ability to feed themselves. I will tell you a strong farm bill, the investment we make is one of the key foundations to protecting the Constitution, just like our responsibilities to have a standing army to defend the coast, to defend the airspace, to defend our folks. Maybe you don't want to make that investment, maybe you are willing to take a chance, but when we don't have enough to eat, it will be too late to fix the problem. Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Chairman, I would remind the ranking member that the reason the 1996 Freedom to Farm bill ended up costing us more is because we ended up adding a whole new series of subsidies to it. Experience is important to heed. New Zealand has four times more dependency on agriculture than the United States--they are four times more dependent--and it once maintained an extensive subsidy program just like ours. In 1984, New Zealand ended those subsidies. Well, what happened? Farm productivity rose, farm earnings rose, farm output all rose.…”