King Rallies With Iowans for "Farm Bill Now"

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Washington, DC - Congressman Steve King released the following statement today after joining several Iowans at the "Farm Bill Now" rally that was held in Washington today. The rally was aimed at helping to build momentum behind the effort to get a Farm Bill passed by Congress.

Congressman King with members of the Iowa Farm Bureau at the "Farm Bill Now" Rally today.

"I was pleased to attend today's rally and join members of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Farm Bureau in calling for swift action on the Farm Bill," said King. "For weeks I've been working with House leaders and rank and file members of both parties to try to build a bipartisan coalition to get the bill to the House floor, get it passed, and get it to Conference with the Senate.

"We passed a Farm Bill out of the House Agriculture Committee with significant bipartisan support in July. We knew bipartisan support was necessary to get the bill through the committee, and I worked with Chairman Lucas, Ranking Member Peterson, and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the Committee to get that done. After it passed the Committee, we knew we'd need that same kind of bipartisan support to move the bill to the House floor and get it passed. Unfortunately, Nancy Pelosi is encouraging her Caucus to oppose the bill because of its reforms of fraud and abuse in the SNAP program, making it difficult to get support from the other side of the aisle.

"Apparently, in the weeks leading up to Election Day, Nancy Pelosi sees a political advantage in opposing this bill and whipping a 'nay' vote. But the Farm Bill is too important to play politics. Our farmers and producers need the certainty that comes from a long-term Farm Bill, and they need it now.