I support the Senate Farm Bill. It’s critical legislation that affects millions of people’s lives by providing food security, enabling global competitiveness and ensuring a better environment. However, I don’t support the divisive tactics that have been used to block a fair amendment process.
I’m very disturbed by the position the Senate is in right now. We could have been debating amendments to the farm bill for a week or two; instead we’ve been stalled by a procedure that has filled the amendment tree. Because of this, no one can offer amendments to the farm bill, yet, I understand there are over 260 amendments from different Members that have been prepared and which are out there waiting in the wings. We aren’t going to see all 260 of those debated and voted on. That never happens. But we should see a significant number debated and voted on.
Those of us who serve on the Agriculture Committee or the Finance Committee have seen both pieces of this farm bill vigorously debated at the committee level with all sorts of amendments and the Committees have worked hard developing an effective process. Now, it’s time for that same process to occur here on the floor.
Yet we’ve not seen one amendment that’s been allowed to come forward. The farm bill affects millions of people’s lives by providing food and security, enabling global competitiveness and ensuring a better environment. But we must allow all Senators the opportunity to bring forth amendments they believe need to be debated before we have the final vote on the bill.
We’ve all heard by now the debate here in the chamber and in other places about numbers, highlighting the multiple roll call votes we’ve had on previous farm bill debates. According to the information I have, during the 2002 farm bill debate—the most recent farm bill Congress passed—there were 49 amendment votes, including 25 roll call votes. In 1996, on the farm bill preceding the current one, there were 26 amendment votes, including 11 roll call votes. And, during the farm bill debate in 1990, there were 113 votes, including 22 roll calls. In 1985, there were 88 votes, 33 of which were roll calls. Yet, during this debate (or non-debate), we have had zero votes on any amendments because the amendment tree has been filled.
I’m discouraged by that because we could have made significant progress on this farm bill by now. I voted against cloture, and I’m relieved that enough of my colleagues voiced their disappointment with the current process to prevent cloture at this time. As I have indicated, I support the Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee, but I do not support the closed floor process the Senate majority leader has chosen.
I encourage our leadership on both sides to get past this impasse. I know there has been a lot of progress made in efforts to limit the number of amendments and to try to determine how many amendments will be allocated to each side, thus allowing us to move forward. But for whatever reason, we haven’t been able to get that agreement resolved.
The farm bill is too important for these partisan politics and maneuvers. I know there are concerns about certain amendments that may be brought. There are some on either side, depending on the amendment, who would prefer not to see the amendment brought because it could cause an embarrassing vote on behalf of some Members. I will face that same dynamic as amendments are brought forward. There will be amendments that will be difficult to face. But it’s something we must do. It’s the tradition of the Senate that we fully deliberate on matters such as this and it’s our duty as lawmakers to ensure that debate is not closed down on this critical legislation that provides for the enactment of a Farm Bill that strengthens American Agriculture for the security of the United States.
I say again to our majority leader and our minority leader, we need to work together, avoid cloture votes, and avoid restrictions that prohibit members from bringing their debate forward in this chamber and allow us to have a full and robust debate so we can move the farm bill forward.
I remain committed to working together to move this farm bill forward in the Senate through a full, fair, and open process, and I hope we can get to one soon.