Political Quotes

“I rise today to join with my friend and colleague from Iowa, Chuck Grassley, in introducing the Farm Program Integrity Act of 2013, which would establish commonsense, meaningful farm program payment limitations. I am pleased that Senator Sherrod Brown and Senator Mike Enzi are also joining us in this effort. At a time when our country faces significant budgetary constraints, it is important that we look for bipartisan and commonsense approaches to restructuring programs in such a way that improves their effectiveness while also reducing the deficit. Our legislation will do that, and our approach has already garnered widespread support. The current structure of our farm support program has, in a number of ways, failed rural America. In 2008, the largest 12.4 percent of farms received 62.4 percent of farm program payments, according to the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, USDA ERS. With such a disproportionate share of the program going to the largest, most capitalized operations, the small and medium-sized family farmers are squeezed out of the business. The farm bill is intended to provide programs that function as a safety net for farmers, but it has instead become a cash cow for the few large producers. We must maintain a safety net for producers, but the system must be targeted to family farmers instead of large agribusinesses.…”