Agricultural News
Talking Budget, Regulation and More with House Ag Committee Chairman, Frank Lucas
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 4:48:26 CST
We touched base with the Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas on Wednesday- and covered a lot of ground.
Our conversation began with the FY2012 Budget as proposed by President Barack Obama. Lucas strongly objects to the huge cuts in both the Direct Payments and the Crop Insurance programs proposed by the Obama Administration. Lucas has a message for the White House- "don't nickel and dime the mandatory programs that will be reviewed next year when the 2012 farm bill will be written."
Lucas admits that he does not like some of the major cuts being talked about by both the White House and the GOP Leadership in the USDA Discretionary Programs. He continues to tell House Leadership that the actual programs in the Farm Bill need to be left alone- and decided upon with the writing of new farm legislation in 2012.
We also talked about the regulatory atmosphere seen within the Administration- for example, he continues to warn Secretary Vilsack that the GIPSA Rule on the marketing of livestock is unacceptable as proposed.
He also mentioned the EPA- saying that several of their regulatory pursuits, such as the idea of banning spray drift and dust are impossible. He adds that the NCBA call to eliminate the Livestock Title in the next farm bill is understandable. Laughing, he told us that he understands why the group wants Congress to say by not including a livestock title to the Administration- leave us alone.
We also talked about the Lesser Prairie Chicken and the possible listing of the bird on the Endangered Species List. And, we talked about the attack on farm policy that continues by those who want to take away the Direct Payment monies from the farm bill baseline, as well as the possible timeline of when the next farm bill might be written. Addressing that- Lucas continues to believe that we would be better off to get a farm bill written next spring and laid on the desk of President Obama as he runs for reelection next fall. He believes that Obama might decide to veto a bill if he were reelected and was in the White House in 2013.
Click on the LISTEN BAR to hear our full conversation with the Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Frank Lucas.
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