Political Quotes

“Mr. President, in the years 1994 to 2003, the Congress appropriated over $36 billion in ad hoc or emergency assistance for farmers and ranchers across this country above and beyond the normal farm program payments. Let me say that again--$36 billion in a 10-year period between 1994 and 2003 above and beyond normal farm program payments. Since the emergence of the Crop Insurance Program, we have seen those disaster ad hoc emergency bills go away. The Crop Insurance Program is the centerpiece of this farm policy. That is what this entire farm bill is built around. That is what farmers and producers in this country said they wanted. There is going to be an amendment offered by our colleagues Senators Durbin and Coburn that would limit the availability of that to people who have adjusted gross incomes under $750,000. What I would say to that is that this amendment--the amendment I am offering--is not about those who are making more than $750,000; it is about those who make less whose premiums would go up as a result of that change. We need a good, strong Crop Insurance Program for the farmers in this country. That is what this farm bill is built upon. We should not take any chances with it. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.”