Political Quotes

“I am offering an amendment here that I think remedies a huge inequity in the peanut program that makes the peanut program, frankly, different than any of the other traditional commodity programs in existence. The other commodity programs in existence have a limitation on payments for a particular entity that farms that product, that produces that product. Under the freedom to farm act, the limitation per commodity, per entity--entity can be either a single person or a partnership, corporation or whatever--the limitation of a commodity payment--and for the purposes of making it easier on me--per person is $40,000. Prior to the freedom to farm act the limitation was $50,000 per payment to an entity, to a person. We reduced it to $40,000 in the freedom to farm bill. Now, unlike all of these other commodity programs, there is no limitation on how much Government support a peanut quota holder can receive. And in fact there are quota holders who receive in Government subsidized quota payments $6 million a year --$6 million in guaranteed income from the Federal Government as a result of the peanut program. We made some reforms in the freedom to farm bill. This is one area that slipped through the noose. What this amendment does--it is a very simple amendment. It says we are going to limit the benefits of the peanut program to small- and medium-size farmers.”