Agricultural News
Farm Issues Taking Back Seat During Government Shutdown, Congressman King Says
Fri, 04 Oct 2013 12:10:07 CDT
With the federal government shutdown now in its fourth day, it is practically overshadowing every other issue awaiting action on Capitol Hill. Veteran farm broadcaster Ken Root interviewed Congressman Steve King about legislation of particular interest to farmers and ranchers that has been eclipsed during the current budget impasse. (Root is originally from Oklahoma. You can hear the full interview by clicking on the LISTEN BAR at the bottom of this story.)
King said he doesn't believe the farm bill is currently being used as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations.
"With all the drama going on here, I don't get the sense the farm bill is being held as a bargaining chip. Right now there's just so much clutter, to be able to sit down and negotiate on the farm bill, it would be pretty hard to pay attention. Yes, we should be able to multi-task on this and John Boehner, as yet as far as I know, has not named the conferees on the farm bill. When that happens, we'll go to work anyway whether we're distracted or not."
King said that as legislators now begin looking at increasing the debt ceiling in addition to the stalled continuing resolution, he doesn't think it is wise for Speaker Boehner to say he will use Democrat votes to increase the debt ceiling.
"I wouldn't agree with that although the other side of the coin is that it would take all of the Republican votes to do that. If the debt ceiling is going to be increased, you would want it to be a bipartisan vote. Good policy gets done in a bipartisan fashion."
House conferees have not yet been appointed to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the farm bill. King said he thought those appointments would have been made this week, but that was before the partial government shut down. He said he doesn't know for sure if he will be part of that committee, but such an appointment wouldn't surprise him.
When the committee does convene, King said, he believes his interstate commerce amendment that was approved by the House but opposed by the Senate has a good chance of remaining in the final bill.
"I'm trying to work this and we've got strong, strong support from all of the agriculture groups out there that I can think of with the exception of United Ag and they had already signed up with the other team before this amendment was offered. So, I think there is a reasonable chance of getting this done. It's a principle we have to stand on. If we wait five years and try to fix this it will be pretty late."
Another issue that is moving along under the radar screen during the partial government shutdown is immigration. King said it would appear to be a simple issue on its surface, but it is really very complex. He said he does not see how passing immigration reform would help the current situation.
"The President has consistently refused to honor to keep his oath of office and enforce existing immigration law. The letter of the law requires that people that are encountered by immigration officers be placed into removal proceedings. The President has prohibited and forbade ICE officers from doing their job and following the law. So, the position I've taken is the President won't keep his oath of office and if he won't enforce current immigration law, there's no way that we can reach an agreement on immigration and trust the President to follow through and keep his word on something he may not like. And, for that reason, I have said that I will oppose anything that comes through the House on immigration that either legalizes people that are here illegally or increases the legal immigration rate which is right at 1.2 million per year.
"We are the most generous nation--by far--and we have a policy, that if enforced, is a pretty good policy and until we restore the rule of law we just can't be sacrificing it on the altar of political expediency. And I know that puts some of our producers under certain pressure, but we got to this point for failure to enforce the law and now we can't say that the solution for the problem that we're in is simply, then, to eradicate the law and grant amnesty."
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