{"id":71999,"date":"2018-12-20T22:28:10","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T06:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=71999"},"modified":"2018-12-20T22:28:10","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T06:28:10","slug":"president-trump-at-signing-of-agriculture-improvement-act-of-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=71999","title":{"rendered":"President Trump at Signing of Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Please.  That was from the Emmys.  (Laughter.)  I sang \u201cGreen Acres\u201d and received a very nice award that night.  That was really great.  So we had that.  Somebody had it.  I said, \u201cPut it on.  Not too much of it, but put it on.\u201d  Congratulations, my man.  (Laughter.)  Well, it\u2019s great to be here.  We have a lot of big things happening.  And I want to thank our great Vice President, Mike Pence, for joining us.  Terrific job.  He loves our farmers, like I do.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dwP5Do3F_sg\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And Zippy Duvall.  Where\u2019s Zippy?  Zippy.  Zippy.  Hi, Zippy.  What a good name.  (Laughter and applause.)  Good job, too.<\/p>\n<p>John Heisdorffer.  John Bode.  Thank you, John.  Jimmie Musick \u2014 I love that name.  You should be a singer with that name, right?  Probably is.  Kevin Kester.  Chuck Conner.  Chuck. Any relation to Chuck Connor, the great actor?  Huh?  No?  (Laughter.)  He was pretty good.  Randy Mooney and Jim Heimerl.  Thank you all for being here.  That\u2019s a great group of people.  That\u2019s a great group.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And some of our \u2014 some of our great political geniuses we have with us today.  And you think this was an easy one?  You know?  They think it was easy; it was not an easy one.  But we have to take care of our farmers and our ranchers, and we will take care of them.<\/p>\n<p>And not only is it a bill, it\u2019s great bill for them.  So we\u2019re honored by it.  And instrumental people \u2014 Leader Mitch McConnell, who may have the easiest job in the United States, especially around the border.  (Laughter.)  Thanks, Mitch.  Good man.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>John Boozman.  John.  John, thank you.  (Applause.)  Good. We got it there, John.<\/p>\n<p>John Hoeven.  Thank you, John.  Great.  (Applause.)  Spent a lot of time together.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.  She had a very easy race.  (Laughter.)  Right?  (Applause.)  And she ended up winning by a lot.  She ended up winning by a lot.  Cindy, great job.<\/p>\n<p>Debbie Stabenow.  And she\u2019s tough, I can tell you.  We competed with her.  (Laughter and applause.)  She\u2019s tough and she\u2019s smart, and does a great job.  Thank you very much, Debbie.  Really good job.<\/p>\n<p>Ralph Abraham.  Ralph, thank you.  Rick Allen.  Jodey Arrington.  Andy Barr.  Where\u2019s Andy Barr?  Where\u2019s Andy?  Oh, did I do a good job for you?  (Laughter.)  Did I do a good job?  You\u2019re one of the only congressional congressmen that I could have \u2014 I\u2019ll tell you: You, I went to specifically.  Congratulations.  That\u2019s a great victory you had.  Mitch was there, with Rand Paul.  We were all there for you, right?  Great.  Great, Andy.  Good.  Good job.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>James Comer.  Kevin Cramer \u2014 that\u2019s another one we worked hard on together, right?  That was \u2014 great job, Kevin.  Senator.  Senator-elect; very shortly Senator.  Very good.  Proud of you, Kevin.<\/p>\n<p>Rick Crawford.  Rodney Davis.  Rick \u2014 well, you know who this is: Greg Gianforte, great guy.  Where\u2019s Greg?  We worked hard.  You did a great job out there.  Thank you, Greg.  Fantastic job.  Neal Dunn.  Ron Estes.  Bob Goodlatte.  Is Bob Goodlatte here?  He\u2019s around here someplace.  I think he\u2019s doing hearings.  He\u2019s with Comey, I think.  That should be exciting.  (Laughter.)  Trying to see how much he\u2019s lying today.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>Frank Lucas, Roger Marshall \u2014 these are great people.  Dan Newhouse.  Thank you, fellas.  Thank you all.  Great people.  Collin Peterson.  Hi, Collin.  Good job.  Good job.  (Applause.)  Very nice.<\/p>\n<p>David Rouzer.  Hey, you know how you pronounce it?  Rabble rouser \u2014 you go, David \u201cRouzer.\u201d  Where\u2019s David?  Is he around?  Hi, David.  Congratulations.  That\u2019s the way to do it, right?  Because, phonetically, it\u2019s very tough.  But I know your name for other reasons.  You\u2019ve done a great job.  Thank you very much, David.  Appreciate it.<\/p>\n<p>Austin Scott.  Adrian Smith.  Austin?  Where\u2019s Austin?  Thank you.  Thank you.  Glenn Thompson.  Hi, Glenn.  Bruce Westerman and Ted Yoho \u2014 thank you, fellas.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re here to celebrate a really tremendous victory for the American farmer, ranchers, agriculture \u2014 incredible people \u2014 by the signing of the 2018 Farm Bill.  Very important.  We\u2019ve been working long and hard on this one.  We were hearing it might not be able to pass this year, but I didn\u2019t want to talk to Pat about that, so we passed it.<\/p>\n<p>We also just achieved another very historic landmark \u2014 a big additional victory \u2014 as the House and Senate have both passed landmark criminal justice reform and sent it to my desk for signature.  That\u2019s a big \u2014 that\u2019s a big thing.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And, Ivanka \u2014 I want to thank Ivanka and Jared for working so hard on that.  It was incredible how you did it.  But it\u2019s \u2014 so many people have called and thanked me for that.  And I thank Mitch and everybody for the job you\u2019ve done.  That was an incredible achievement.  I think it\u2019ll go down as one of the great \u2014 the great moments.  This legislation will help thousands of former inmates and nonviolent offenders get a second chance at life.<\/p>\n<p>But before going any further, I want to address a matter of vital national importance.  You\u2019ve all been seeing it, reading it, hearing it: border security.<\/p>\n<p>Every nation has not only the right, but the absolute duty, to protect its borders and its citizens.  A nation without borders is a nation not at all.  Without borders, we have the reign of chaos, crime, cartels, and \u2014 believe it or not \u2014 coyotes.  I will not surrender this nation to the whims of criminal organizations who prey on the vulnerable, who hurt women and children, and who spread human misery and suffering.<\/p>\n<p>Human trafficking and massive drug inflow must also be stopped.  It\u2019s at a tremendous level.  What we\u2019re doing and the incredible job being done by border security, ICE, Border Patrol, local police, and the military \u2014 the military has been incredible.  And we\u2019re stopping them.  It\u2019s a process, you wouldn\u2019t believe how tough.  But we\u2019re stopping them in record numbers.<\/p>\n<p>At this moment, there is a debate over funding border security and the wall, also called \u2014 so that I give them a little bit of an out \u2014 \u201csteel slats.\u201d  We don\u2019t use the word \u201cwall\u201d necessarily, but it has to be something special to do the job \u2014 steel slats.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve made my position very clear: Any measure that funds the government must include border security.  It has to.  Not for political purposes but for our country, for the safety of our community.<\/p>\n<p>This is not merely my campaign promise, this is the promise every lawmaker made.  It is the solemn promise to protect and defend the United States of America.  And it is our sacred obligation.  We have no choice.<\/p>\n<p>For decades, Washington abandoned this commitment and allowed millions and millions of people to enter our country illegally and over the objections of the American people.  No one voiced or voted for a policy, no one endorsed this policy, and no one ratified this policy.  It was a total assault on our democracy itself.<\/p>\n<p>Illegal immigration costs our nation $275 billion a year \u2014 you hear many different numbers; you can say billions and billions, but the number that I hear most accurate is $275 billion a year, at least \u2014 millions of jobs and thousands of innocent lives.<\/p>\n<p>More than 90 percent of heroin comes across our southern border.  Heroin deaths have tripled since 2002.  Every week, this illegal heroin kills at least 300 Americans and costs our nation over $230 billion to $289 billion, or nearly $5 billion a week.<\/p>\n<p>I spoke with President Xi of China, and he has agreed to make fentanyl \u2014 another one of the big, big problems, and probably, I think, it\u2019s just gone to number one; kills 80,000 people a year in our country \u2014 he\u2019s going to make that a major crime in China.  And if you get caught, you pay a major penalty; it\u2019s called the \u201cdeath penalty.\u201d  And it wasn\u2019t listed as a crime until I spoke to him.  So I appreciate President Xi for doing that.  That\u2019s a tremendous \u2014 that\u2019s going to have a tremendous impact.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Every day, 10 known or suspected terrorists try to gain entry into our country.  Every day, 2,000 illegal aliens try to cross our borders.  They try.  We get most of them.  It\u2019s hard without a wall.<\/p>\n<p>Every year, 50,000 illegal children are smuggled by coyotes and criminals into our country.  In the last two years alone, ICE officers arrested criminal aliens charged with or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 murders.  It\u2019s rough stuff.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, the Democrats continue to oppose border security, no matter how many innocent people get hurt or die.  Ridiculously and dangerously, certain people want open borders, which allow potentially massive crime.<\/p>\n<p>Our nation has spent trillions of dollars and sacrificed thousands of brave young lives defending the borders of foreign nations.  I am asking Congress to defend the border of our nation for a tiny fraction \u2014 tiny fraction of the cost.<\/p>\n<p>Essential to border security is a powerful, physical barrier.  Walls work whether we like it or not.  They work better than anything.<\/p>\n<p>In Israel, 99.9 percent successful.  Think of it.  I spoke to Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister, two days ago.  We were talking about it.  He said it\u2019s 99.9.  I mean, he came up; I didn\u2019t ask.  He said, 99.9 percent successful.<\/p>\n<p>We have proposed a steel slat barrier to halt the deadly flow of these illegal traffickers, smugglers, and terrorists.<\/p>\n<p>Every day that we deprive our Border Patrol and ICE officers the resources they need, we put many innocent lives in harm\u2019s way.  It should be bipartisan.  I think it will end up being bipartisan.  I really do.<\/p>\n<p>Illegal immigration also strains public services that Americans depend on.  And illegal immigration drives down wages for the neediest Americans.  No one who calls themselves a progressive should support illegal immigration.  Open borders hurts poor Americans more than anyone else in our society.<\/p>\n<p>In life, there are certain principles worth fighting for \u2014 principles that are more important than politics, party, or personal convenience.  The safety and security and sovereignty of the United States is the most important principle of all.  If we don\u2019t stand strong for our national borders, then we cease to be a nation and we betray our commitment to the loyal citizens of our great country.<\/p>\n<p>I look forward to signing a bill that fulfills our fundamental duty to the American people.  It is all about \u2014 and I say this in any way they want to hear it \u2014 it\u2019s all about America First.  We have to put our country first.  We have to put our people first.  And we have to put safety first.<\/p>\n<p>So thank you all very much.  And we\u2019ll be working on that \u2014 Mitch and Paul and Kevin, and everybody \u2014 and we\u2019ll see what we can do.  But hopefully that will all come together.<\/p>\n<p>Now to the Farm Bill.  We are proudly joined today by so many members of Congress \u2014 Republicans, Democrats \u2014 who worked very, very hard on this bill.  This was really an effort of everybody.  It was a bipartisan success \u2014 something you don\u2019t hear too much about, but I think you will be.  I actually believe we maybe will be over the coming period of time.  I hope so.  I think so.  So good for the country.  And I want to thank all of the people here, including the many Democrats who have really worked hard on this bill.  They really have.  I\u2019ll probably have to deny that I ever said that someday, but I won\u2019t do that.  Because you really did \u2014 you worked very, very hard.<\/p>\n<p>And, Mike, thank you, by the way.  That was some job you did, I\u2019ll tell you.  I watched you day and night work on this one.  So that was really incredible.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And the Chairman of the House and Senate Agricultural Committees \u2014 that\u2019s Mike Conaway \u2014 and Senator Pat Roberts, who\u2019s another one.  I was really \u2014 it was very inspiring to work.  Very hard to get it done for these two guys, because it meant so much to them.  So I want to thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you, Pat.  Thank you, Mike.  Great job.  Great job.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re honored to be with state, local, and tribal leaders of the American agriculture, along with Zippy and all of the people, some of whom I introduced.<\/p>\n<p>One I have to introduce that has done such an incredible job \u2014 truly loves agriculture and, perhaps more importantly, loves the farmers and the ranchers \u2014 is our Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue.  (Applause.)  Special, special man.<\/p>\n<p>And, you know, he plans sort of everything out.  He sometimes can be a little bit \u2014 a little bit deceiving.  This one is smart.  And today happens to be his birthday, right?  So you planned that out, probably like you do everything else.  (Laughter and applause.)  Happy birthday.<\/p>\n<p>This is the best \u2014 this is the best birthday present you could have, I think.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY PERDUE:  That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Knowing you, with how much you love the farmers, this is the best \u2014<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY PERDUE:  Worked it all out, the timing.  It\u2019s perfect.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Oh, that\u2019s a fantastic job.<\/p>\n<p>By signing this bill, we are protecting our crop insurance programs and funding that producers rely on in times of disaster.  And I\u2019ve told Sonny that while we had some pretty big problems in Alabama and Georgia, with the hurricanes, believe it or not \u2014 normally doesn\u2019t hit, but these were big and they hit \u2014 we\u2019re going to work it out so we can help those farmers, right?  (Applause.)  They got hit very hard.  So we\u2019re going to work it out.  Those two states in particular, and some others.  But those two states \u2014 those two states got hit very, very hard, and certain parts of Florida.  But we knew about that, and they\u2019re being taken care of, right?  So work on that one, Sonny.  That\u2019ll be great.<\/p>\n<p>Through fires, floods, and freezing weather, we will always stand with the American farmers.  The Farm Bill doubles the amount of farmers that they can borrow to expand and improve their farms.  It expends and goes all over rural broadband.  We are doing broadband.  Everyone wanted it so badly.  It\u2019s amazing how sophisticated the whole farm industry has become.  But it expands rural broadband, and dedicates additional resources to fight the opioid crisis.  A tremendous crisis that we have it down about 18 percent, but it\u2019s just not acceptable.  It\u2019s an incredible problem for our country.  It opens new markets for American agriculture all over the world.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to signing this critical legislation, today I am directing my administration to take immediate action on welfare reform.  Thanks to our thriving economy, we have already lifted more than 4.6 million Americans off the food stamp roll since the election.  And more work remains to be done.  (Applause.)  A lot more work remains to be done, but it\u2019s been incredible the strides that we\u2019ve made.  And I will say, it\u2019s really because of the fact that the economy is doing so well, and the farms now are being lifted.<\/p>\n<p>And again, I\u2019ll go back to President Xi of China, at our meeting two weeks ago, he\u2019s agreed to start purchasing tremendous amounts of farm product.  You know that.  You know that better than \u2014 you were the first one I called, actually.  (Applause.) In particular, soybeans.  And they\u2019re starting that already, and I think you\u2019ve already seen the signs of that.  But they\u2019re starting that already.<\/p>\n<p>Millions of able-bodied, working-age adults continue to collect food stamps without working or even looking for work.  Our goal is to move these Americans from dependence to independence, and into a good-paying job and rewarding career.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, I have directed Secretary Perdue to use his authority under the law to close work requirement loopholes in the food stamp program.  Under this new rule, able-bodied adults without dependents will have to work, or look for work, in order to receive their food stamps.  Today\u2019s action will help Americans transition from welfare to gainful employment, strengthening families and uplifting communities.  And that was a difficult thing to get done, but the farmers wanted it done; we all wanted it done.  And I think, in the end, it\u2019s going to make a lot of people very happy.  It\u2019s called \u201cwork rules.\u201d  And Sonny is able, under this bill, to implement them through regulation.<\/p>\n<p>With the passage of the Farm Bill, we are delivering to the farmers and ranchers, who are the heart and soul of America, all sorts of things that they never even thought possible.  We are ensuring that American agriculture will always feed our families, nourish our communities, power our commerce, and inspire our nation.<\/p>\n<p>And I am opening up massive new markets in order to do things with other countries.  You know, we\u2019ve opened various countries; Canada as an example.  Canada is going to be much more open over the USMCA.  It\u2019s a terrific document.  It replaces the horrible NAFTA deal.  It was a horrible deal for this country.<\/p>\n<p>Before signing, I\u2019d like to invite Secretary Perdue, who, as I said, is just doing an incredible job.  He loves what he does.  He loves the farmers and loves what he does.  And I\u2019m going to ask Sonny to say a few words.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, Sonny.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY PERDUE:  Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY PERDUE:  Well, Mr. President, you can tell by the temperature in this room today, it\u2019s a great day for agriculture.  It\u2019s a delight to have so many members of Congress here, with the leaders, and chairman of the committee who worked so hard; the ranking members.  We\u2019ve got many members of USDA staff here who have worked hand in hand with your committees over this working of the Farm Bill, on both sides, and I\u2019m very proud of the work they\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n<p>I think \u2014 I think we counted up.  I believe there were over 2,000 issues of technical assistance, which we\u2019ve provided the committees.  And we believe that\u2019s the way this should work.  It\u2019s your job to write the laws, and our job to implement and give you datas and facts whenever you need it.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re very proud of our USDA people here, and I want to thank them today for their hard work as well.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Mr. President, it is a great birthday present not only for me, but for all of agriculture, to give the producers, the ranchers, and farmers across America the peace of mind.  Going forward, they can make their plans in 2019; make their lenders and bankers proud of what they can plan for.<\/p>\n<p>The underpinning of the safety net of crop insurance \u2014 those kind of things \u2014 is a big deal for agriculture.  It\u2019s a big deal for the U.S. economy, the ag economy, for food security, and for national security.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know if you remember this, President Trump, but I \u2014 this is my lucky tractor tie.  I wore it to the Trump Tower in November of 2016.  I thought it was appropriate to wear it today to celebrate, again, the conclusion of over a-year-and-a-half work of a farm bill.  And I\u2019m just delighted to be here with you.  I want to thank you for your leadership.<\/p>\n<p>As a businessperson, we know you to be a builder \u2014 a builder of the economy, a builder of buildings.  And it\u2019s amazing to me the affinity \u2014 having grown up in your career, in New York \u2014 the affinity and the affection that you have for our farmers and ranchers.  And I think it\u2019s because you know them to be builders as well.  They take the risk of the hands every day, every year, putting that seed in the ground.  Their faith and their optimism, and their hope.  Look at these young people in these FAA jackets out here.  Understanding the optimism they have for the great story of American agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>I am proud to be U.S. Department of \u2014 Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue.  And I am delighted to work on behalf of the farmers and ranchers.  I am delighted to work for you, Mr. President, because you understand their heart.  And this bill goes a long way.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, folks, for passing a great bill.  We\u2019re going to do our best to implement that bill as you\u2019ve intended.  Thank you and God bless you.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Sonny.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>So now it\u2019s my great honor to sign the 2018 Farm Bill \u2014 very, very special, important piece of legislation.  Thank you, Mitch.  Very good.  Great job.  Thank you.  Thank you all.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>(The bill is signed.)<\/p>\n<p>Thank you all very much.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>END                4:01 P.M. EST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Please. That was from the Emmys. (Laughter.) I sang \u201cGreen Acres\u201d and received a very nice award that night. That was really great. So we had that. Somebody had it. I said, \u201cPut it on. Not too much of it, but put it on.\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/whitehouselogo200.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}