Inside D.C.

If the Farm Bill is so important…

As I type this, President Obama is likely entering the venue at Michigan State University in 13-degree East Lansing where he will begin the formal process of signing the 2014 Farm Bill into law.  On the desk in front of the President is the ceremonial leather binder holding the bill’s title and final pages, next to his left hand will be an array of pens equaling the number of dignitaries who will be gifted with said writing implements.   He will be flanked by state officials, as well as a number of members of Congress involved in enacting the bill – none of them Republican.

Now, before you jump to any partisan conclusions, the dearth of GOPers is not because they weren’t invited; it’s because they chose not to attend.

I suspect the lack of Republicans has the most to do with not relishing a public appearance with the President during an election year.  However, at the risk of sounding petty, if the Farm Bill is as important as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle contended throughout the nearly three-year slog to enactment, then why not see it through to the very end, put your politics aside and haul it to Michigan?

The public reasons given by Republicans for not attending the signing ceremony were scheduling conflicts, the change of venue from the White House to Michigan State didn’t allow enough time to schedule the trip, etc.  Perhaps most honest that of  Sen. Thad Cochran (R, MS), who told one reporter, “It’s a long way. It’s going to be signed whether I’m there or not.”

You can fault timing, you can legitimately argue spending money to put Air Force One in the air to haul the President to Michigan is a waste of tax dollars, and this winter if would be tough to fault anyone for not wanting to go  north when Washington,  DC is a tropical 42 degrees.

Aggies will tell anyone who’ll listen the Farm Bill is not a partisan issue, it’s a series of commodity and regional competition issues, and at least the newly minted law certainly demonstrates that.  In the last election, I can name at least two sitting Senators from ag states who wouldn’t have their jobs if Congress had completed the Farm Bill on schedule.  And polling clearly showed rural voters put the blame on Republicans for not getting the Farm Bill done.  So why wouldn’t the GOP seize the opportunity to polish its  image?  Why couldn’t the key players involved in getting the Farm Bill to Obama’s desk rise above the partisan politics and present a bipartisan demonstration of camaraderie?

That picture would have gone a long way to at least trying to convince voters there are those in Congress not hidebound to the election year party line.  Not only would a visual of a bipartisan gaggle of aggie lawmakers smiling broadly – mainly out of relief – as the President signed the hard-fought bill into law be what the public needs to see, it would remind the folks on the street just how vital this five-year package of farm programs, nutrition programs, research, trade incentives and energy development is to their collective and individual qualify of life.