Political Quotes

“let me commend the chairman and ranking member for their hard work. And I stand in support of this conference report. This truly is a bipartisan piece of legislation that the House Agriculture Committee has produced and one that affects every citizen in this country. Agriculture is the number one industry in my home State of North Carolina. It is responsible for $66 billion in income and employs almost one-fifth of the State's workforce. Mr. Speaker, it is critical that we have a stable farm policy in this country, not just for North Carolina, but for every child that participates in the nutrition program, for every food bank and for every school lunch program. The bill increases the funding for the Nation's nutrition programs by over $10 billion, provides over $1.1 billion for renewable energy, and increases funding for conservation efforts by $6.6 billion. And for new and growing sectors of agriculture like organic foods, we have included, for the first time, mandatory funding for specialty crop research and marketing. And we are able to do all this while ensuring that the safety net for our farmers remains intact, ensuring that no matter what, our citizens will always have a stable food supply.”