John Thune: “Tomorrow we will engage in a debate on this floor which I think will be the first volley of what will be a very long…”

“Tomorrow we will engage in a debate on this floor which I think will be the first volley of what will be a very long discussion here in the House about the future of agriculture in America. Tomorrow we will pass legislation here that provides emergency disaster assistance to our producers. Unfortunately, as that bill moves through the Committee on Agriculture, of which I am a Member, it was pared down from what was originally proposed. I believe that it was a mistake to do that, because we have a responsibility to the producers of this country. Frankly, we had set expectations at a certain level about what we were going to do to help address the catastrophic low prices which we have seen now for year after year after year. The legislation that will move through the House tomorrow, is in my judgment inadequate and insufficient to get the job done for American agriculture in this year. We are long overdue of making some changes in agricultural policy for America.”