Ron Kind: “During debate tonight on the Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment to the farm bill I offered with my colleagues…”

“During debate tonight on the Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment to the farm bill I offered with my colleagues Mr. Flake, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Ryan, and others, a false claim was made regarding the budgetary impact of the amendment, and I would like to correct the record to reflect the truth. While the error, to the best of my knowledge, was not intentional and the false statement was not made knowingly, I believe it is important that I make the accurate information known. Tonight, Chairman Peterson stated that the savings claimed by the reforms made by the amendment were not realized, and he questioned, therefore, the validity of these reforms. Unfortunately, the statement was based on inaccurate information. After consulting with the Congressional Budget Office, it appears the Chairman was basing his comments on a comparison with current law rather than a comparison to H.R. 2419, which was how our amendment was drafted. The official CBO score shows that our amendment would have, in fact, saved the government billions of dollars during both the five- and 10-year windows in relation to the bill as reported by the Agriculture Committee. It is unfortunate this mistake was made on the House floor tonight and was not corrected at the time. When writing policy that affects every single American, it is important that we base our decisions on timely and accurate information. I appreciate this opportunity to provide the real facts on our amendment.”