John Thune: “I support the Food Security and Energy Security Act of 2007, which is currently before the Senate. My hope is that in…”

“I support the Food Security and Energy Security Act of 2007, which is currently before the Senate. My hope is that in the not too distant future, we will be able to reach an agreement with regard to amendments so that we can move this process forward. My fear is, if we do not reach any resolution this week and this gets pushed back until after the Thanksgiving break, that we run a very serious risk that we are not going to be able to get a bill through the Senate, conferenced with the House, before the end of the year. In my judgment it is incredibly important to farmers and ranchers across this country that we come to some conclusions with this farm bill to give them some certainty, as they approach the 2008 planting season, about what the rules are going to be, what the programs are going to be, how it has perhaps changed from what we currently have in place. But, in any event, it is, from a timing standpoint, of great importance that we act as soon as we can on the 2007 farm bill.”