NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas First District Congressman Tracey Mann talked to Hutch Post Wednesday afternoon after he spoke Wednesday morning about the Farm Bill on the House Floor again and he really does see movement now.
"It's been very frustrating," Mann said. "I went to the floor for the 27th time, calling on Congress to pass a five-year Farm Bill. It's been delayed. It's been very frustrating, but, what's going to happen is, on the House side, the text has been drafted, it's going to be released here in the next few days. Later this month, we'll have a markup at committee, which means that committee will go through it, we'll consider it, we'll vote on it, vote on the amendments that come up and then pass it on to the House floor. It looks like we're finally starting to make some progress on the Farm Bill."
If current schedules hold, that markup is scheduled for May 23.
"It's important that we get a fiscally responsible Farm Bill," Mann said. "Within that, top priorities for me are crop insurance, trade and research, as well as oversight. Specifically, on crop insurance, and we've talked about this over the last few months, crop insurance is such an important risk management tool for our ag producers and a very successful public private partnership. There will be efforts to weaken, diminish, chip away at crop insurance. I think we need to be strengthening it, fortifying it and making it better. That will be a big priority, also, on trade, when you talk about a fiscally responsible Farm Bill, if you look at the dollars, as a nation, that we spend, in promoting trade and opening up other markets overseas, it's an incredibly high return on that investment. That warrants further investment to make sure that we have robust international markets for ag products, those are going to be big focuses for me at the markup here in a couple weeks."
The extension of the current Farm Bill expires Sept. 30.
Below is a podcast of Mann's interview with Nick Gosnell.
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