David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, a propaganda sheet has been circulated by lobbyists who are lobbying against my amendment, claiming that…”

“Mr. Chairman, a propaganda sheet has been circulated by lobbyists who are lobbying against my amendment, claiming that this is an amendment that attacks farmers. That is certainly not true. I represent farmers, I have fought for them all my life; in my view farmers are not hurt by this amendment, they are hurt by two things. They are hurt by the misguided farm policies of the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations that we suffered through for the last three administrations, and they are also being hurt by the failure of the Committee on Agriculture to reform the crop insurance program so that we do not get ripped off by some of the agents involved in this program. Most of the agents involved are perfectly rational, responsible and fair-minded people, but the fact is that nonetheless the program is being ripped off. If we separate fact from fiction, the fact is that nothing in this amendment changes crop insurance for farmers, nothing in my amendment changes what farmers will pay for crop insurance. What we are trying to do is to stop the rip-offs on the commissions that some of the insurance agents are getting. Now the lobby sheet that is being circulated says that 10 percent commission is not enough. We are not cutting this to 10 percent. We are trying to cut the commission from 28 percent to 24½ percent, which is the amount USDA and the Office of Management and Budget both say is sufficient to run the program.”