Walz to GOP Leadership: “We need a Farm Bill and we need it now”

Calls on House GOP leadership to enact bipartisan jobs legislation for rural America

Washington, DC— Today, Congressman Tim Walz, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, called on House GOP leadership to stop dragging their feet and bring the Farm Bill to the House floor for a vote. The Farm Bill is a bipartisan jobs bill for rural America. Text of Walz’s House floor speech is below and video can be found by clicking here.

“Thank you Mr. Speaker. I rise today with a very simple message from rural America. We need a Farm Bill and we need it now.

“With the current Farm Bill set to expire at the end of September, it’s crucial that we continue to provide certainty to one of the few bright spots in our economy over the past decade. It’s all the more crucial to our farmers that we do this as they are staring at cracked, dried out soil resulting from one of the worst droughts in modern history.

“The newspaper Politico looked back 50 years, longer than I’ve been alive, and found that never before has a Farm Bill been this close to being passed and then blocked by House leadership.

“This is absolutely unacceptable. Southern Minnesotans can’t afford to deal with the uncertainty that follows out-of-date policy extension or lame duck sessions; lame for sure.

“Don’t kick the can down the road, the Senate has passed the bill, the 2012 Farm Bill passed out of committee on July 12 with a bipartisan vote of 35-11 saving 36 billion dollars for the taxpayers. My farmers in Southern Minnesota are up before dawn, working until after dark. We are leaving at noon today. We have 17 days between now and November 6 to work here in Washington. That is so unacceptable, no one will agree to that. Pass the Farm Bill, pass it now.”

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Source: Politico: Congress Delay’s Farm Bill as Drought Spreads. 7-23-12