Who would like to begin?

MR. SCHROEDER: Well, good morning. I am Jim Schroeder, I am not Gerhardt Schroeder, so I will not be talking about German agriculture policy. I am absolutely delighted to be here this morning and welcome you all to our listening session. I want to certainly thank Ralph Peck and his talented and lovely staff. Those of us in government know that we are only as good as the people that work for us, and Ralph is blessed with very competent and industrious people.

Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, I love these states. Montana, I first came here as a kid, I think the beauty of this state is only excelled by the quality of the industry and the people who live and work here. I've been privileged in Washington to work with your congressional leadership. I've spent a lot of time working on China the last few years. I've been in China with Max Baucus. Nobody has worked harder on opening up the Chinese market, particularly for wheat, for the northwest than Max Baucus. Conrad Burns, what can I say about Conrad? He and I share the same philosophy of life, "Take your job seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously." Nobody works harder for American agriculture than Conrad Burns. I don't know Congressman Hill as well, but I am sure he is working hard to build on a great record of an old friend of mine, a long-time friend, Pat Williams. I miss Pat a great deal. So you are blessed with good leadership, hard working folks back in Washington that have American agriculture right at the top of their agendas.

I hope to return. I certainly want to return when Ralph Peck opens his luge run here in Bozeman. There's a story behind that. But my daughter, who has been studying in Cambridge, England, has met a young Australian astrophysicist, believe it or not, who will be coming out here next month to join the faculty of MSU, so, who knows, maybe I'll get back.

I look forward to this listening session. If there's a lesson for this morning's meeting, it comes from the gospel according to Glickman, and it would go something like this: A sound economy depends upon a healthy agriculture. And healthy agriculture depends in large part on trade. Thank you.