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Floor Speech

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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I want to say thank you to the ranking member on the Senate Ag Committee, Senator Boozman. And I am especially proud to be here with the Senator from the great State of North Dakota, Senator Hoeven, and support our FARMER Act.

Crop insurance is the backbone of every farm bill. When I talk to producers back home, they tell me crop insurance is their first, second, and third priority. It is important not just to producers, but it also helps stabilize groceries on the other end by having a good, constant supply by allowing the farmer to plant next year's crop after Mother Nature strikes. It helps keep those prices down at the grocery store as well.

You know, I am often asked why crop insurance is so important. And I want to quote the late President John F. Kennedy when he summed up the plight of the farmer pretty well. This is what President Kennedy said:

The farmer is the only person in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.

Look, our input costs are driving the value of our crops up, and thus the cost of crop insurance is going up along with it. Unfortunately, commodity prices don't reflect that. Instead, we are seeing an alltime drop in farming income--year over year drop that we have seen in decades.

But the FARMER Act truly puts ``farm'' back in the farm bill with a reasonable cost. It helps take on this added burden of crop insurance, which, again, allows the farmer to plant next year's crop and makes us the most single most important program at USDA.

I am proud to be here today urging that this body pass the FARMER Act--perhaps included on the farm bill would be a good place for it as well--to protect the economic security of rural America and keep food prices stable for American consumers.

I am happy to yield back to the Senator from North Dakota.

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