Pryor: Amendments to ag approps welcome
June 18, 2014 | 12:58 PM
Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., said today that senators are welcome to offer amendments on the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill.
Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.
Pryor said on the Senate floor that he was making the statement because there had been rumors that amendments would not be allowed, and he wanted to make it clear that “we absolutely will allow amendments.”
He urged senators to bring amendments forward, and said he wants to develop a manager’s package. But he also said “we don’t want a lot of funny business” with the amendments.
Pryor made the statements during the debate on a motion to proceed with the three appropriations bills, including Agriculture, that have been rolled into one “minibus.”
The debate on the motion to proceed started about 10 a.m. and can take up to 30 hours, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said that he hopes the time can be shortened so that senators can move on to offering amendments.
Pryor urged senators to support the Agriculture bill.
“Agriculture is something that American does better than anybody else in the world,” he said. “It is rural America’s No. 1 industry.”
In almost every state, Pryor said, agriculture is No. 1 or No. 2, and in few states it is No. 3. In Arkansas, Pryor said, agriculture constitutes 25 percent of the economy and provides $17 billion in economic activity and one in six jobs.
The Ag bill is also one of the few in Congress “to focus on rural America,” he added.
Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Roy Blunt, R-Mo., also urged support for the bill, and noted that it would spend $90 million less than last year.
Earlier Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., noted that it has been three years since appropriations have been able to proceed on the floor in regular order and said she wants to finish all the appropriations bills by October 1. She also praised Pryor and Blunt for working together on a bipartisan bill.
Pryor said on the Senate floor that he was making the statement because there had been rumors that amendments would not be allowed, and he wanted to make it clear that “we absolutely will allow amendments.”
He urged senators to bring amendments forward, and said he wants to develop a manager’s package. But he also said “we don’t want a lot of funny business” with the amendments.
Pryor made the statements during the debate on a motion to proceed with the three appropriations bills, including Agriculture, that have been rolled into one “minibus.”
The debate on the motion to proceed started about 10 a.m. and can take up to 30 hours, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said that he hopes the time can be shortened so that senators can move on to offering amendments.
Pryor urged senators to support the Agriculture bill.
“Agriculture is something that American does better than anybody else in the world,” he said. “It is rural America’s No. 1 industry.”
In almost every state, Pryor said, agriculture is No. 1 or No. 2, and in few states it is No. 3. In Arkansas, Pryor said, agriculture constitutes 25 percent of the economy and provides $17 billion in economic activity and one in six jobs.
The Ag bill is also one of the few in Congress “to focus on rural America,” he added.
Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Roy Blunt, R-Mo., also urged support for the bill, and noted that it would spend $90 million less than last year.
Earlier Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., noted that it has been three years since appropriations have been able to proceed on the floor in regular order and said she wants to finish all the appropriations bills by October 1. She also praised Pryor and Blunt for working together on a bipartisan bill.
