FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Isakson Criticizes Effort to Attach Farm Payment Limits to Budget
Senate's Action Would Bankrupt Many Georgia Farmers

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today said many farmers in Georgia and across the South would go bankrupt under an amendment to the proposed budget resolution that would lower federal crop payments established in the 2002 farm bill.

“We had this debate in 2002, and we passed a carefully crafted farm bill that established fair crop payment limits,” Isakson said. “We debated farm payment limits extensively at that time, and it’s absolutely wrong to seek to change those now.”

In a speech on the Senate floor, Isakson joined with Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and other Southeastern senators in harshly criticizing the amendment, which would lower the annual limit on federal crop payments to individual farmers from $360,000 to $250,000. Isakson urged his colleagues to vote against it.

“Why are we trying to hurt farmers who only wish to provide a decent living for their families?” Isakson asked on the Senate floor. “The costs of farm operations in Georgia are tremendous, and it would be absolutely destructive to enact this arbitrary cap.”

Isakson said the payment limits would bankrupt many farms in Georgia and across the South, because Southern farmers tend to have larger, more costly farming operations than farmers in other parts of the country. Larger farm operations such as those in the South can reach one or more of the payment limits much faster than smaller farms.

“This amendment will destroy agriculture in the South and, in particular, in Georgia,” Isakson said. “I strenuously object to this amendment on behalf of the farmers of Georgia.”

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