Farm leaders from across the country are very pleased over passage of new Farm Bill legislation in the U-S House.
For the first time in several years, new Farm Bill language was approved Thursday on a 224 to 200 vote.
Dan Glessing, president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau and farmer in the Waverly area of Wright County was among a contingent of farm leaders lobbying lawmakers for progress on the legislation. Glessing says the vote marked a measure of cooperation between Republicans and Democrats…
“Well we were certainly excited to see it pass. When you look at the vote, it was a bi-partisan vote. There was some margin there so that was good to see. Obviously there was some politics being played yesterday, and for a while it looked like the vote might not happen. But we are elated that it happened.”
Glessing says while passage in the House is very encouraging, it’s really only half the battle as the U-S Senate next has to come to an agreement on Farm Bill language…
“Hopefully this puts some pressure on the Senate side of things. I was visiting with staff from Klobuchar’s office yesterday, and they’re eager to get going, so hopefully this gives them a template or encouragement or pressure or whatever the word is to get going in that chamber as well. Now, when you look at the E15 thing, we’re hoping to have that…we’re still not giving up on that. That just needs a little more time here, so we’re going to continue to advocate for that and try to get that done.”
Minnesota Farm Bureau President Dan Glessing.
Many farm groups had hoped to have language allowing the nationwide, year-round sale of the ethanol based fuel, E15 included in the main Farm Bill language. It appears now that it may have to be a stand-alone measure to be addressed in the weeks ahead.
(audio in the on-air story: courtesy LFN)
