Political Quotes

“I think the distinguished senior Senator from Florida has done the Senate and the country a service in what he has said. We each represent our own States. We have matters of interest in our States, but also so many times they are national interests. During this past recess, I was in just about every part of Vermont. I was stopped time and time again by Vermont farmers who asked me why Congress left town without passing a farm bill. They knew we had passed it in the Senate, but why hadn't we finished? Similar to my fellow Vermonters, I have been frustrated by the refusal of the leadership of the House of Representatives to consider the legislation sent to them by the Senate to extend the farm bill. In fact, they blocked consideration of a bipartisan farm bill, one that mirrors the legislation passed in their own body by the House Agriculture Committee. I have been here nearly 38 years. I have served on the Senate Agriculture Committee all that time. I have never seen a case where the House Agriculture Committee--whether it is led by Democrats or by Republicans--passed a bipartisan farm bill only to see it blocked from a final vote by its own leadership. The Senate has done its work, but as a result of the House's inaction, for the first time that anybody can remember in either body, the farm bill has expired. This is dangerous for dairy farmers in Vermont and for farmers across the country. This delay threatens our rural communities.…”