Congresswoman Cheri Bustos says she’s just as surprised anyone she actually was assigned to a House-Senate Conference Committee to hammer out a compromise Farm Bill — an assignment she asked for.
But, now that the surprise has worn off, the 17th District Democrat says as work begins to reconcile the two different versions of the bill that passed — one for each chamber of Congress.
“We’re in a pretty good place on crop insurance, which is the number one question I get from our corn-bean folks,” says Bustos. “A big concern I have is the Rural Development Program, which is under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”
The Rural Development program provides funding to communities in what is considered rural American as a way to prop them up.
Bustos voted against the House version of the Farm Bill, which has raised the ire of plenty of people, including many in the 17th Congressional District.
“I don’t think farmers need the support on a terrible Farm Bill. It didn’t do enough for our family farmers,” says Bustos. “I cannot support something that zeroes out a program that has been invaluable to our Congressional District. Since 2009, almost $500 million had come just to this Congressional District through the Rural Development Program.
Bustos says the House version was the version that zeroed out the program which could be described as a form of economic development help for farming communities, while the Senate version okayed it.
As for why the House version had no Rural Development funding, Bustos says you can blame some other lawmakers who, in her words, “have a lack of understanding of rural America.”
