Cost of Operating A Vehicle & Gang of Eight Agreement

Cost of Operating A Vehicle & Gang of Eight Agreement plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

An agreement between the United Farm Workers and key Senators has paved the way for the Gang of Eight immigration reform proposal to move forward. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack thinks a guest worker program is a good start.

VILSACK: The key there was to make sure we had enough folks in that guest worker system to make up the difference of what we have here and a waste level that doesn’t suppress the wages and doesn’t make it more difficult for those who are legitimately here to get a decent paying job.

Owning and operating a car or truck is getting more expensive according to new figures out from AAA. Increases in maintenance, insurance and fuel drive up average cost for sedans to $9,122 yearly or 60.8 cents per mile. To assist consumers in determining their individual driving costs, the AAA ‘Your Driving Costs’ brochure contains a worksheet that can be filled out and personalized for a specific area, driver and vehicle. Ownership costs are calculated based on the purchase of a new vehicle that is driven over five years and 75,000 miles. This is the 63rd year for the study.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

As part of President Obama’s budget proposal for 2014 the federal crop insurance program would take a $7.4 billion dollar reduction hit. No surprise there. Agriculture has done well over the last few years in spite of natural and not so natural challenges. This makes it a natural target for “the powers that be” when it comes to trying to find ways to “rob Peter to pay Paul”. The Obama administration says that because the value of livestock and crop production is at an all time high many farm programs can no longer be justified. This isn’t a new trend. Democrat and Republican Administrations alike have often proposed savings by cutting farm programs. Congress generally avoids taking too deep of cuts to ag programs, though this year there has been more of a congressional surge to eliminate some subsidies paid directly to farmers as Congress struggles to pass a five year farm bill. The American Soybean Association and state soybean groups have spoken out harshly against the proposed cuts to crop insurance saying that, “Crop insurance paid out this year, but it hasn’t always. If you go back the last ten years, farmers have more than paid their fair share”.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.