Iowa’s Democrat U-S Senator met with the Republican nominee to head the U-S Agriculture Department Thursday. Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Senator Tom Harkin said the discussion with Ann Veneman went well.Harkin says he expressed his desire to see the administration make an immediate move in support of ethanol. He says getting support for ethanol won’t be easy.Harkin did pull back on a statement he made calling Bush and runningmate Dick Cheney the “Texaco Twins” for their links to the oil industry. He says that’s a statement that was made in the heat of the campaign. But, he says Bush still needs to prove he supports ethanol.Harkin told Venemen he will question her on her ethanol stance during Senate confirmation hearings. He promises to do the same on food safety issues.The 50-50 party split in the Senate leaves Harkin as the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee for the next 16 days. Harkin joked when asked if First Lady and now New York Senator, Hillary Clinton, might want to join the Committee.Harkin says if Clinton thought health care reform was a morass, “wait until she gets into the Northeast Dairy compact.”
