IARN — There has been much contention in the halls of Congress in the months and weeks leading up to the election. There has been a partisan power struggle between the House, Senate, and the White House. Many of the arguments have the American people caught in the middle as both sides try to make the other look as terrible as possible before the November 3rd elections.
Agriculture also has gotten caught up, especially over the funding of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). A deal that was in the works between the Democratically controlled house and Republican President Donald Trump fell apart last week, and on Monday House leadership unveiled their government funding plan with no inclusion of the CCC. Lawmakers from Iowa from both sides of the aisle and both chambers are not pleased and have weighed in on what happened.
Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst joined with Iowa Representatives Abby Finkenauer (D-1st), Dave Loebsack (D-2nd), Cindy Axne (D-3rd), and Steve King (R-4th) to urge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA 12th) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to include an extension of funding for the CCC in any Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government. The Resolution announced yesterday does not have any language in it to finance the fund which supports Farm Bill programs.
Senator Grassley talked about the situation during his weekly press conference with Ag media. He said that he passed Speaker Pelosi in the halls after House Democrats released their plan which had no inclusion for the CCC’s funding. Grassley said he was certain that by the end of the discussion, Pelosi knew his feelings.
For more on this story, including audio with Senator Grassley, visit the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Photo courtesy of Dustin Hoffman.
