Congressman Steve King will be one of a couple of U.S. House members who’ll convene an Ag Committee “field” hearing on the Farm Bill this (Monday) morning in Sioux Center. “I wanted to make sure that we had a hearing in…northwest Iowa,” King says. “A lot of things to show off up there that the members can learn from.”
King, who is a member of the Ag Committee in the U.S. House, says the public is welcome to attend the event, which will be held at Dordt College in Sioux Center, but it’s not an “open-mic” kind of hearing. The witness list is already set and features leaders from commodity groups.
“We’ll hear testimony on all kinds of livestock, of course corn and soybeans and ethanol and perhaps some cutting edge technology that may well have to do with thing we’re doing from a genetic perspective in both livestock and plant science,” King says.
According to King, momentum appears to be building for simply extending the current Farm Bill rather than creating dramatically new federal policy that might cause more problems for U.S. negotiators in world trade talks.
“Since we don’t see bright prospects for a WTO agreement, an extension of the existing Farm Bill seems to make sense,” King says. “I think it needs some changes along the way and I haven’t settled in on exactly what those should be.” This morning’s House Ag Committee hearing begins at 8:30 a.m.
Last Monday, the U.S. Senate’s Ag Committee held a field hearing on the Farm Bill in Ankeny and both of Iowa’s Senators — Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin — were there as both are members of the Senate Ag Committee.