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For Immediate Release
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Representative Steve King
5th Congressional District of Iowa |
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May 14, 2008
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| King Votes For Farm Bill |
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| New Agriculture Law Includes Measures Added by King |
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Washington, D.C.—Congressman Steve King today voted YES on a Farm Bill that reforms America’s agriculture law. Despite concerns over certain provisions in the bill, King joined a bi-partisan coalition to pass the bill through the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 318-106. The Senate must now pass the bill in order to be sent to President Bush. Although the president has threatened to veto the bill, the margin of victory in the House may make it “veto proof”.
King made the following statement about the Farm Bill:
“In the final analysis, it came down to this logic. If I could have painted a scenario where the Farm Bill would have gotten better if it failed to pass, I would have voted “NO”."
“On the other hand, if another Farm Bill had to be written next year, I can’t envision a logical circumstance would have gotten better for farmers or Iowans. A “YES” vote is the best vote for Iowans.”
"Three quarters of the Farm Bill is spent somewhere other than on our farms. This reflects the changing leadership in Congress. The committee chairs in the House are now primarily from the nation’s inner-cities. They have demanded that billions more be spent on food stamps. The result is a transfer of resources from our farmers to the inner-cities of America.”
“The bill helps young and first time farmers with “Aggie Bonds” loan limit increases, and it helps our livestock producers with better risk management tools through “dairy forward contracting,” so that dairy farmers and processors may enter into contracts together. These are two measures I authored.”
“The bill also took positive steps in country of origin labeling (COOL) rules, as well as improvements to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).”
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