National Cotton Council leaders welcome Senate passage of farm legislation and applaud Senators Chambliss (R-GA) and Lincoln (D-AR) for convincing their colleagues to reject amendments that would have unraveled legislation which includes significant improvements and reform.
NCC Chairman John Pucheu, a Tranquillity, CA producer, said, “the industry is deeply appreciative to Senators Chambliss and Lincoln and their colleagues for developing legislation that will continue to provide all segments of the cotton industry with an effective, budget responsible safety net which includes improvements to enhance competitiveness, assist domestic manufacturers and allow commercially viable operations to participate.
It is certainly a compliment to the Committee that the legislation was approved by the widest bipartisan margin in recent history 79-14.”
The legislation includes provisions which make responsible reforms to payment limitations. It is important that the Senate confirmed the significance of those reforms and rejected efforts to radically change those provisions by significantly lowering limits, undermining the value of the non-recourse loan as an orderly marketing tool, and modifying the Adjusted Gross Income test in a way that would have denied benefits to full time farmers.
The Senate also rejected an amendment to replace balanced, effective commodity programs with a revenue insurance program that is unworkable for diversified operations in the Sunbelt.
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