Political Quotes

“every morning, farmers and ranchers across America wake up to do the hard work of growing crops, tending livestock, and providing food that is safe, abundant and affordable. Over 2 million American farms grow the food that feeds the world. And today we will pass, with near unanimous support, the Agriculture appropriations bill, which helps America's farmers to be the most productive in the world. The Agriculture appropriations bill funds $100.7 billion for a wide array of Government agencies. Roughly 80 percent of the funding in this bill is for those programs referred to as ``entitlements.'' That includes farm price support programs and funding for low-income, domestic food assistance programs such as food stamps, school lunch, and other child nutrition programs. The portion of this bill we refer to as ``discretionary'' includes such activities as rural development, rural housing, agriculture research, FDA, and most conservation programs. That portion represents $17.3 billion--less than a 3 percent increase over this year's funding. Later today, the Department of Agriculture will release their most current estimates on the agriculture damages caused by Hurricane Katrina. Preliminary estimates indicate that the loss of agricultural production in the area might be less than $1 billion.…”