Region’s ag to be well represented in Congress

11/21/2006

By Mark Fischenich
The Mankato Free Press

Minnesota farmers look to be very well represented in the new Congress — a crucial time for them as a new multi-year farm bill is set to be written in 2007.

Congressman-elect Tim Walz, DFL-Mankato, is very optimistic he will be appointed to the House Agriculture Committee. And that committee is all but certain to be chaired by Rep. Collin Peterson, a Democrat who represents Minnesota’s 7th District which stretches from Sibley County to the North Dakota and Canadian borders.

In the Senate, Democratic Sen.-elect Amy Klobuchar will join Republican Sen. Norm Coleman on the Senate Agriculture Committee. The chairmanship of that committee will move from the deep South to the upper Midwest as Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., is replaced by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, with the Democratic takeover of that chamber.

“That bodes well for Minnesota because Iowa and Minnesota farmers have a lot in common,” said retiring Minnesota Sen. Mark Dayton, who serves with Coleman on the committee and will be replaced there by Klobuchar.

Geography matters a lot — even more than political party — in farm legislation, Dayton said.

“Most of the issues that go before the Agriculture Committee are provincial rather than partisan,” Dayton said.

So having Peterson and Harkin leading the way should be good news for subsidy programs for upper Midwest crops such as corn and soybeans, for renewable fuel incentives and for conservation programs popular here. Dayton also predicted that the new farm bill will include built-in disaster relief funding because Peterson supports it, and the House had previously been the hang-up for that.

Coleman said he and Dayton, despite philosophical differences on many issues, rarely canceled each other out on ag committee votes. He expects it will be the same with Klobuchar, particularly in promoting renewable fuels produced from Minnesota farm products.

“We’ve got an addiction to foreign oil, and we’ve got to get the needle out of the vein,” Coleman said. “Sen.-elect Klobuchar shares that belief.”

Promoting renewable fuels is also a priority for Walz, who won’t know his committee assignments for certain until sometime in December. But he’s received encouraging words from House leaders about getting a spot on the Agriculture Committee.

“I feel really good about agriculture,” Walz said. “I think we’re going to get that one.”

He has an outside shot at another coveted committee — the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is expected to be chaired by Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar. A spot on that committee has tended to translate into a disproportionate number of highway projects and other transportation-related appropriations for members’ home districts.

Walz said he’d like to serve on the committee simply because the nation’s transportation system needs more attention than it’s been getting.

“I know it’s probably a long-shot getting two big ones like that,” Walz said of the agriculture and transportation committees. “But I’m getting positive feedback.”

A teacher and Army National Guard veteran, Walz said he would be pleased to get a seat on education and veterans committees as well.