Jim Inhofe: “I wonder, after listening to the debate--whether it is Montana, Minnesota, or whatever the State being represented by…”

“I wonder, after listening to the debate--whether it is Montana, Minnesota, or whatever the State being represented by the other side of the aisle--how Montana could be so different from Oklahoma. Eleven months ago, I did a tour of very small areas in Oklahoma-- Shattuck, Boise, and Gage--places you probably never heard of, with very small populations. These people are not wealthy. They are small family farmers and ranchers. In that part of Oklahoma, they normally have three sources of income. It is either small grain or cattle or oil. When all three are down, we have real devastation out there. We have a lot of family farms that are not even making enough money to break even. I remember going out there and talking about the various agricultural programs. I talked about crop insurance. I talked about transition payments. But when the subject of estate taxes came up, they forgot about all of the other Government programs having to do with agriculture. They said: It would be the greatest thing in the world for us to be able to survive as a family institution and pass this on to the next generation. These people live day to day. They are not wealthy people.”