Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
If Tom Harkin wants more money for his farm bill, he's going to have to agree to some of the demands of his Iowa colleague, Chuck Grassley.
Harkin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, wants to add more than $10 billion in new money for new programs in the 2007 Farm Bill — and he has to get those funds from the powerful Senate Finance Committee.
The ranking Republican on the finance committee is Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, who said yesterday that the finance committee "will not give money to the agriculture committee to spend any way they want."
Grassley and finance committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., are working on a bi-partisan agreement in the finance committee to create a permanent disaster assistance program for farmers. That's not the approach Harkin was planning to take, as he had been pushing for a new "revenue-based" assistance program that has been touted by the National Corn Growers Association. But as reported today by the Des Moines Register, Harkin may make the deal and agree to the finance committee's demands.
"Senator Harkin wants us to raise money, and we're willing to do that," Grassley said in a news conference Tuesday. "Probably not as much as he'd like to have, but $8 to $10 billion is an awful lot. And we have a strong feeling that if we raise money, we should decide how it's going to be spent. And since the way we are deciding to do disaster is in conflict with his, it seems to me that he's going to have to make the choice. Less money, or do it the way we want it done."
All of this wrangling has slowed the progress of the 2007 Farm Bill, causing many to speculate that the bill will be finished too late in the year to give farmers time to make management plans for next spring's crops. Grassley said Tuesday that the finance committee should hammer out a deal this week.
"Now we're saying this from the standpoint of wanting to be entirely cooperative with Senator Harkin and trying to help him out as the leader of the (agriculture) committee, but we're also helping the farmers, because it seems like we're having good policies," Grassley said. "Because whether you do it through Harkin's bill or do it through the finance committee, everybody feels that some sort of disaster program is very important. And people feel that natural resources and conservation are very important."
Harkin has said that the agriculture committee is planning to begin markup of the bill by the first week of October.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter