Posts tagged Farm Bill
Steve King Facts
Fact #41: Deeper Farm Bill cuts ahead
Congressman King has not been a leader on the Farm Bill. King is the only member of Iowa’s congressional delegation in opposition to a discharge petition to bring it up for a vote, and now he’s claiming that he secured personal assurance from House Speaker John Boehner that the Farm Bill would be brought up for a vote.
POLITICO reports that Boehner remained vague about this issue and suggested that there’s not enough reform in the current House Farm Bill:
The speaker’s remarks provided little clarity. And aides said Boehner’s commitment was only to deal with the farm issue, not any precise form.
“The current situation that we face is that we’ve got people who believe there’s not enough reform in the farm bill that came out of committee,” Boehner said. “We’ve got others who believe there’s too much reform in the bill that came out of the committee, in our opinion leaving less than 218 votes to pass either an extension or to consider the entire farm bill. [POLITICO, 9/20/12]
Does Congressman King think the Farm Bill needs more “reforms”? Remember, the current version passed by the House Agriculture committee already slashes funding for renewable energy and rural development – both vital to the 4th District’s economy.
Unfortunately, Congressman King’s behavior shows that he’s unwilling to fight for the Farm Bill and for the needs of the 4th District. By allowing the Farm Bill to expire, Congressman King and his colleagues in the House are just opening the door to more unaffordable cuts to the Farm Bill.
Fact #46: Getting to work?
Yesterday, Congressman King decided to skip his fundraiser with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, saying that he was going back to work on the Farm Bill. Instead, King stayed in Washington to vote to adjourn until November 12th, leaving the Farm Bill to expire at the end of the month. King also remains the only member of Iowa’s Congressional delegation unwilling to support a discharge petition, which would force a vote on the Farm Bill.
Instead of working on the Farm Bill yesterday, King actually spent time downplaying the impact that allowing the Farm Bill to expire will have on Iowans. In an interview with KTIV yesterday, King said that it was “hard to find anyone impacted.”
It’s no surprise that Congressman King is trying to downplay the House’s failure to pass a Farm Bill, but he must not be looking hard enough. For example, WHO-TV’s Aaron Brilbeck visited with a dairy farmer who said that Congress’ failure could mean the end of the line for him and other farmers:
There are real consequences to Congress’s failure to pass a Farm Bill and Congressman King needs to realize the impact it has on Iowa. He had the opportunity to be a leader on this issue and has continued to let the people of the 4th District down.
