Kevin McCarthy says ag business a priority in California. ‘We need to make the investment’

..,In his first event after becoming Speaker, McCarthy was accompanied by a bipartisan delegation of congressmen from California, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and North Carolina. The representatives, members of the House Committee on Agriculture, visited California’s central San Joaquin Valley to host the first official Farm Bill listening session of the year.

“We need to make the investment for the next generation of farmers because food safety is very important,” McCarthy said, “not just to America but to the world.”

The Farm Bill is legislation that governs a wide range of agricultural and food programs and is typically reauthorized every five years. Since its last reauthorization in 2018, predicted and unprecedented challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the agricultural industry across the nation.


Instead of asking California farmers to go to Washington, “in this new Congress, I wanted to make sure Washington comes to them,” McCarthy said.

Representative Glenn “GT” Thompson, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, defined the national agricultural industry in three words — science, technology and innovation. He assured farmworkers across the country to enact policies to help their industry prosper.

From a local perspective, Rep. Doug LaMalfa reassured Californian farmers that they’d be heard in Washington.

“I’m really, really excited that our Speaker comes from Bakersfield and not San Francisco,” LaMalfa said as he gestured toward the International Agri-Center grounds. “We don’t have to explain all of this to him.”…








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I love the idea of the various congressional committees taking their hearings on the road to where affected constituents live and getting then out of DC. This is one of the first of those. That Ag bill that comes due every 5 years is due now and agricultural areas of the country will get our needs met this time. Ag counties and cities in California will benefit greatly from this.

 

It’s like my congressman said, far better to have a speaker from Bakersfield than from San Francisco. The needs of ag and rural California will finally be met for awhile.

 

Corporate welfare is the biggest misuse of tax dollars. This is where I differ from Republicans

 

The billionaires who steal all our water to grow almonds?

 

As if almonds are all that are grown in California and all that grow them are billionaires. Ridiculous. Much of the fruits, nuts, vegetables, and dairy in this country come from farms in California’s Central Valley. Other ag areas in the country will benefit from the San Francisco to Bakersfield change in speaker. The idea of taking major committee congressional hearings out of the beltway to local affected areas around the country is a good one. It will open up democrats eyes to an America they don’t even know exists.

 

Most of the farms in California are not corporate.

 

Aren't they able to make money selling crops?

What's going to happen when subsidies are gone?

 

Our food supply is one area where I don't care if the government has to subsidize it to keep it operating. It's that important.

 

So … socialism is ok if it is for an “important” reason?

 

I have no problem with incorporating socialism into our system when beneficial. We already do it anyway.

There is no one system of government or economics that has the ability to solve all of our problems. Just like with political parties, if we did things only the way one party wanted it would be a disaster.