Nutrition Bill Fallout & Who Benefits

Nutrition Bill Fallout & Who Benefits plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

It was a close vote last Thursday on the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack was not pleased with the passage saying it was a highly partisan step that does nothing to promote a bipartisan, comprehensive farm bill. He added that the legislation stands no chance of becoming law. Vilsack says the bill would deny critical nutrition assistance for millions of Americans - including working families with children, senior citizens, veterans and adults who are still looking for work. 12 Republicans voted against the bill.

Well with all the talk about the nutrition and farm bills some people are asking questions about who benefits. Kam Quarles, an attorney who focuses on agriculture talks about who benefits from the Farm Bill.

QUARLES: You've got school children who are benefitting through fruits and vegetables being delivered to schools under the fresh fruit and vegetable program. You've got hunters and fishermen who are benefitting from being able to go out and have these great rehabilitated and reserved areas that are such robust areas for fish and wildlife to grow. You've got the energy title. The impact that renewable energy has on all of our pocketbooks everyday when you go to the gas station. Universities. They're amazing agricultural research that goes on at universities across the country and throughout the world underpinned in part by the farm bill.

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

After reading John McCain's response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's New York Times op-ed piece I couldn't help but think of the comment I made to my husband several weeks back that WWIII would probably be started because of a blog, Facebook post, or some other social media type posting by opposing politicians. That said, I understand McCain's irritation at Putin's blatant manipulation of the American public. Putin keeps tabs on which way the wind blows when it comes to public opinion on world issues just like any other politician does, whether it be monitoring Russians or Americans. He observed that most Americans were not in favor of a U.S. military strike on Syria and took that opportunity to make himself sound like the poster boy for world peace; history proves otherwise. But the U.S. President is the only person who should have responded to Putin, if a response was deemed necessary, which in this case it probably wasn't. The sound of silence can be deafening. Yes, here in America we are privileged to have the freedom of speech, but that doesn't mean we should take every opportunity we can to "open mouth and insert foot".

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