Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from North Dakota for his great leadership on this issue and all over here. Senator Roberts--the longtime chairman of the Senate Ag Committee and before that, the House Ag Committee--was very instrumental in our getting a farm bill in late 2018--a farm bill which provides a safety net and provides a little bit of stability in agriculture, which, as he pointed out, has been just in the tank literally since 2013. Our producers, farmers, and ranchers across the country and in South Dakota have been operating with negative cash flows, eating into their equity, and trying to keep their operations viable, and that was before COVID-19. Now we have COVID-19, and we saw the bottom fall out of the cattle market in this country. I don't have to tell the Presiding Officer that agriculture is important. It is the lifeblood of our economy in South Dakota. It is our No. 1 industry. But that ripple effect is felt all across the country. It is our food supply. Senator Hoeven talked earlier today about the importance of ensuring that we maintain a safe, quality, predictable, and affordable food supply for people in this country, particularly when people are concerned in a time of crisis. We need to maintain that food supply.…”