11-6 IAT Farm Bill 2
The consequences if the Farm Bill doesn't get done.
Yesterday we heard an impassioned plea from the Sec. of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, asking that the Farm Bill get passed. At the end of a candid interview with The Ag Information Network's Kay Dee Gilkey, the Secretary uterred an ominous warning saying that if the Bill didn't get done their would be dire consequences. "The consequence is that if, at the end of the year, if we do not have a farm bill, we at the USDA by law would be required to trigger a permanent law which would result in us going out into the market and begin purchasing staple commodities like milk cheese and butter and doing so at a substantially higher price than the market currently pays for it. That will result in shortages in the grocery stores and higher prices for basic staples That folks depend on to feed their families. We don't want that. We don't want the retaliatory measures that Brazil could trigger in a trade dispute that could potentially be resolved if we got a comprehensive bill and change the way in which we support cotton growers so, a lot of adverse consequences if we don't get it done and frankly there is no way I can help the folks who have been struggling through a difficult snowstorm that came early, the loss of livestock and the folks who are still struggling with the consequences of drought last year and this year, without disaster assistance programs, all of those have expired so there are a multitude of reasons why this needs to get done and needs to get done now."
