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February 7, 2002

Miller Decries Payment Limits in Farm Bill
Senate's Action Would Bankrupt Many Georgia Farmers

Click Here to Read the Full Speech

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) today said many farmers in Georgia and across the South would go bankrupt under an amendment to the proposed new Farm Bill to lower federal crop payments.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Miller harshly criticized the amendment because it would lower the annual limit on federal crop payments to individual farmers from $460,000 to $275,000. A vote to table the amendment failed 31-66.

"You know what this amendment says to the South? It says, 'Hold still little catfish. All I'm going to do is just gut you,'" Miller said on the Senate floor.

Miller said the payment limits would bankrupt many farms in Georgia and across the South, which tend to be larger than farms in the Midwest. Also, Southern farmers are already struggling because of skyrocketing production costs and low commodity prices.

"We've got a pretty simple question here and it really goes to the heart of this amendment and to the heart of each individual senator. Are we going to reduce government support when farmers need it the most?" Miller said.

"Today, in this land of plenty, our farmers who produce that plenty are looking into a double barrel shotgun. I plead with this Senate not to pull the trigger. If you vote for this amendment, you will."

Miller called the payment limits amendment "a poison pill" that puts the entire Farm Bill in jeopardy. He vowed to fight to remove the payment limits amendment as the Farm Bill moves through the legislative process.

The current Farm Bill expires at the end of this year, and Congress must pass a new one to set the nation's farm policy for the next five years. Once the Senate passes its version of the Farm Bill, it must negotiate the details with the House.

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