[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20542]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             THE FARM BILL

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, we will face a very stark choice on 
the farm bill this week. The hollow claims of reform are exposed by the 
fact that it hardly saves any money at all and retains the complex 
system with special provisions to avoid what we say we want to do: 
concentrate on our family farms.
  It preserves a system where five commodities, rice, cotton, wheat, 
soy beans, and corn, will continue to claim most of the money and 
dominate our farm policy. It is perverse because it continues to enrich 
those experts at farming the taxpayer while continuing to squeeze out 
the family farmers, driving up land prices and giving the big guys a 
competitive advantage. That is why the overwhelming majority of farmers 
favor a strict cap of $250,000 a year. You can ask independent experts, 
not lobbyists and associate members. Ask your own farmers.
  Let's amend the committee bill, currently the least that can be done, 
with a vote for a series of amendments that will strengthen it and 
provide the sort of support our farmers deserve.

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