Atlanta GA -- Michael Coles, candidate for the United States Senate, today called on Paul Coverdell to stop making false claims and take responsibility for Georgia’s current farm crisis. A new Coverdell campaign commercial credits Paul Coverdell with forming a coalition that moved the farm program forward. However, the Coverdell claims are false because his coalition’s legislation, the 1996 “Freedom to Farm” bill has already proven to be the most harmful farm legislation this century. The facts are clear. Paul Coverdell formed a Republican coalition that passed the “Freedom to Farm” bill which removed the federal safety net for farmers by phasing out traditional price supports -- leaving farmers with only crop insurance to protect them. Due to a glut in some agriculture markets, coupled with a terrible two-year drought, weather- related farm losses in Georgia have reached almost $800 million this year. Paul Coverdell’s federal crop insurance scheme has failed Georgia’s farmers because it does not protect them from back-to-back losses and it bases crop insurance policies on the value of past yields. Because the Coverdell-backed law removed price supports, farmers must go begging to Congress on a case by case basis for emergency assistance. Due to this slow process, one-quarter of Georgia’s farmers may go out of business this year. Michael Coles stated, “It is completely offensive that Paul Coverdell would try to take credit for helping Georgia farmers, when it is obvious that his plan is the cause of the problems farmers now face. Paul Coverdell needs to face up to the fact that his actions have failed to protect Georgia farmers in the wake of natural disasters.” With farmers facing the possibility of losing their farms, Paul Coverdell has failed to responsively act to provide much needed financial aid. On September 14, Paul Coverdell voted against a $7 billion farm aid package. The aid package was defeated by seven votes. In addition, Coverdell himself has admitted that he doesn’t have any ideas for how to help Georgia farmers out of their current troubles. When asked by the Macon Telegraph what he proposed to do about the current farm crisis, all he could say was: “we’re in search of a process.” “Georgia’s farmers deserve to have a United States Senator who will do more for their concerns than talk about solutions without providing them. Paul Coverdell not only has failed to provide solutions, his prior solutions have proven to be the cause of the problems Georgia farmers now face.”
____________________________ |
