WASHINGTON, D. C. — U. S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, identified a lot of problem areas with pending farm legislation Thursday morning at a speech given to a delegation of Ohio Farm Bureau Federation members. The members, presidents of county chapters of the OFBF, were in Washington to lobby lawmakers on commercial agricultural interests. Voinovich invited them to breakfast at the National Republican Club, better known as the Capitol Hill Club, where he addressed their concerns and fielded some questions.
Voinovich said that there were some things to celebrate recently, such as the record high prices farmers are getting for some commodities these days, record high production in some areas, strong exports and increased use of renewable fuels. But he said that there’s much more to the story than that: Livestock producers are also having to pay those record prices for grains, some fruit and vegetable farmers experienced severe losses last season, and everyone is experiencing the high costs of oil and natural gas, which also drives up the cost of fertilizers.
Voinovich acknowledged that he did not support the 2007 Farm Bill. He defended his vote by saying that he always stuck by what he thought was right, and what was best for the country. He said that a farm bill which increases expenses by 27 percent wasn’t a good idea. He said that he wanted Ohio’s farmers to know that he was not supporting the farm bill because of the current national debt, which is around $9 trillion. He also added that the government has expanded more in the last 15 years than it did from the founding of the country up until 1992. Voinovich warned that 80 percent of the debt is being picked up by China, Japan and Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia.
“We are on real thin ice,” Voinovich said. “We are fiscally irresponsible.” He expressed hope that the new Bipartisan Commission on Responsible Fiscal Action will start improving the situation, but many hurdles have to be cleared before that commission’s report, a year from now.
He also expressed concern about the continuing costs of the war in Iraq, both in fiscal terms and in human terms.
“Five hundred and fifty billion dollars on the Iraq War,” said Voinovich, “And not a dime to pay for it. Some of you come from communities; they paid for it: The sons came back in body bags. And we haven’t been asked to do a damn thing.”
“We’ve got some problems, folks,” Voinovich said, “We’ve got to face up to them.”
News reporter Mark Jordan is attending the Ohio Farm Bureau’s forum. He will write several articles from Washington, D.C., over the next several days.
