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Looking ahead to ag priorities now that the U.S. House has a speaker

Now that the U.S. House has a Speaker, Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Iowa tells Brownfield lawmakers can get back to work on legislation that impacts the ag industry.  “The energy and water bill is on the floor,” she says. “We’re going to be voting on amendments on that which I think sets in motion progress on the farm bill and hopefully we’ll get an updated timeline there very soon.”  She says the House will also need to take up the ag appropriations bill.

Ethan Lane with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says farm-state Republicans have made it clear they need bills that work for their constituents. “And that’s something we really appreciate,” he says.  “And it’s something that the new speaker is going to have to balance as part of that equation because those Members have made it clear they’ll tank a bill if they don’t like it, too.  And so it’s going to have to be a solution that works for everybody in order to make progress in this in this Chamber.”

And, he tells Brownfield, the House will still have to pass bills that make it through the U.S. Senate and are signed into law by President Biden.  “If you’re not crafting a bill that has any chance of survival once it leaves the House chamber and then demanding that you have a regular order process, it’s in some ways shooting the hostage and then expecting to still get a ransom for them,” he says. “It doesn’t work that way.”

Lane says Speaker Johnson has laid out an ambitious blueprint for the House now that it’s back in session, but averting a government shutdown will need to be a priority.

AUDIO: Ethan Lane, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association