House Farm Bill & Going Rogue

House Farm Bill & Going Rogue plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

The House has passed the Food, Farm & Jobs act. It now goes to the Senate and hopefully on to the President. One issue a lot of groups are not happy with is the lack of Country of Origin legislation but Washington Congressman Doc Hastings says that can always be revisited.

HASTINGS: All those things can be revisited and much of it will depend on the concerns that have been raised if in fact those concerns become reality then of course there will be a reaction to that so while yes, this is a five-year farm bill, any portion if it is way, way out of whack can be addressed by future congresses.

There is some speculation after the President's State of the Union address that he may be going rogue. That means, with or without the help of Congress. The President said quote: "America does not stand still and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do." Idaho Senator Mike Crapo said the President's speech showed that the country faces some serious challenges ahead.

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

When the House of Representatives passed a compromise five year farm bill in a vote of 251-166 this week several Representatives said they felt it was a good compromise - preserving farm subsidies and making modest food stamp cuts. On the flip side Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro said that the bill slashes the most important anti-hunger program in the nation while rewarding the millionaire and billionaire farmers who are eating high on the hog. Come again?! I would imagine that her comment left many farmers and ranchers blinking in shock and then found them reaching for their bank statements to see if they had missed something. Millionaires and billionaires?! As with any long standing industry there are a small portion of those who fly high above the norm when it comes to financial standing, but for DeLauro to say that all farmers and ranchers are living high on the hog as millionaires or billionaires is political posturing at its worst. I found House Ag Committee Chairman Lucas's statement quite to the point, "No matter how much money we spend on supplemental programs to make sure our fellow citizens have enough to eat, and that is very important, NEVER forget - if there's not product on shelf, if there's not meat in the case, if there's not vegetables or fruit available, it doesn't matter how much you subsidize. The food has to be there!"

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