| Capitol Hill welcomes new legislators, many from rural areas |
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In politics, 96 new members were sworn into the House of Representatives this week, 87 Republicans and 9 Democrats. The Senate will have 15 new members, 12 Republicans and three Democrats. It was the topic for this month’s “Processor’s Perspective” on Wednesday.
The International Dairy Foods Assoc.’s Jerry Slominski said, “It’s a common saying that elections have consequences and the Republican wave this past November will surely have consequences for the dairy industry.”
He pointed out that a large number of the new legislators are from rural areas and many dairy-producing areas now have new representation in Washington.
Although the delegation from the largest dairy state, California, remains much the same, nearly every other top dairy state witnessed a significant shift from Democratic to Republican representation, Slominski reported.
On the East Coast, Pennsylvania elected a Republican senator to replace a Democrat, as well as four new Republican Congressmen and New York saw its Republican delegation increase from two to seven.
Across the Midwest dairy states, four Democratic senators were replaced by Republicans. Wisconsin, for example, elected Republican Senator Ron Johnson, as well as two new Republican Congressmen. Upper Minnesota and South Dakota are now represented by Republicans as well, he said.
Out West, several dairy areas also switched to the Republicans. Eastern Colorado, Eastern New Mexico, Western Idaho, South Dakota, Southern Washington and Central Arizona are examples, according to Slominski.
Looking at the House Agriculture Committee, 15 Democrats, mostly freshmen, lost their jobs and have been replaced with newly-elected Republicans, Slominski said, and “While often the generals remain after the troops have been replaced, that will not be the case this year.”
Republican Frank Lucas, of Oklahoma now leads the House Agriculture Committee and Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow is the new chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
“I’m not going very far out on a limb to predict that these new representatives will rely more on free markets in their approach to issues,” Slominski warned, “They will be more open to free trade agreements, and will be less likely to see new programs or regulations as a solution to our nation’s problems. These changes in Congress come at a critical time for the dairy industry,” he concluded.“And will surely have an impact on the upcoming farm bill.”
“It’s going to be a different dynamic here,” said National Milk’s Chris Galen in his weekly Thursday DairyLine program, referring to the new lawmakers in Washington. The House Republicans will first try to repeal the healthcare reform bill that passed last year, he said, but it doesn’t appear that will go anywhere.
The next big question, according to Galen, is how far they go with budget cuts. A lot of the focus during the campaigns last year was on federal spending, Galen said, and “It look like there’s going to be a much more serious effort in both the House and Senate to trim federal spending.” That, he said, will affect how they look at a variety of domestic programs, including farm programs.
When asked what the shift from Democratic rule to Republican rule means for government programs, Galen said the dynamic will be different in the House while Democrats still control the Senate, but “any legislation, including what we’re trying to do with our Foundation for the Future program, has to be bipartisan. It has to pass a Republican House, a Democratic Senate, and then be signed by a Democratic president.”
Anything that is “overly partisan on either side of the aisle, is not going to be successful,” Galen warned, and that presents a challenge and opportunity to look for bipartisan solutions that will obtain support from both parties.
In closing, Galen reported that President Obama would sign the recently passed food safety bill but “the irony is that it doesn’t look like there’s going to be a lot of funding to pay for how it’s implemented.” That gets back to previous comments about Congress trimming federal spending and that may impact this legislation because there may not be money available to pay for its provisions. |
| 1/14/2011 |
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