Wednesday, November 2, 2005

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Floor Statement on Farm Payment Limits
Remarks as Delivered on the Senate Floor

*** An amendment to lower federal crop payments that were established in the 2002 farm bill was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 53 to 46.

Mr. President, I thank the distinguished senior Senator from Georgia, my dear friend. I appreciate his guidance and I associate myself with his remarks. The distinguished Senator from North Dakota made an admittedly tongue-in-cheek analogy about 55 dead farmers. To change this program in midstream could put a lot of family farmers in the South on life support, and that is not tongue-in-cheek. It would not only cripple the agriculture economy of communities across the Nation, but it would have a most devastating effect on farmers in my State and in the Southeast.

Make no mistake, adoption of this amendment would result in many traditional family farms going out of business--plain and simple.

We had this debate in 2002, when we passed a carefully crafted farm bill. We debated farm payment limits extensively at that time, and it is absolutely wrong to seek to change those rules in midstream. That debate takes place in 2007, when the bill is up for reauthorization.

Our farmers have made business decisions based on that farm bill. They have had significant investments based on that farm bill. We cannot pull the rug out from under them in midstream.

This amendment punishes the farmer whose livelihood depends solely on the farm. In my part of the country, a farmer must have a substantial operation to make ends meet.

Why would we seek to punish family farmers at a time when they have made large investments in order to become competitive in an international marketplace? Now is not that time.

Mr. President, on behalf of farmers in my State of Georgia and across the Southeast, I urge my colleagues to oppose the Grassley amendment.