Learning Lots

The Livestock, Dairy & Poultry Subcommittee held their hearing today, which was again packed for the first panel with two representatives from the USDA (and their posse trailing behind) creating chaos inside and outside of the room. We were packed to the brim, when one extra member of the press showed up and was not very happy with me not letting him go in. After we finally found a place where he could stand in a corner of the room, that disaster was solved with the help of my own staff. Once the first panel let out, animal organizations and a researcher from the U of M took the stage providing testimony and answering questions. With USDA's convoy out, everyone left was let in, and Gabe and I even got in on the last 45 minutes. It is an odd scene, as there were about 25 places with names of members on the subcommittee, only the Chairman has to be there for business to take place. During the meeting, Members of Congress and their staff will be going in and out to other meetings. So while most everyone shows up and says a few words at the microphone at some time during the hearing, for the majority of the time I was there, the subcommittee Chairman, Mr. Boswell, conducted business with just two other Members listening and asking questions. Of course, the testimony is recorded and can be analyzed back in the office, but you only get to ask questions if you are there. Also, at the end of the meeting, they stated that any questions that could not be adequately answered would be allowed 10 days to try to be resolved by the witnesses.

After we cleared the room out, things were a little less stressful all around. At 2:30 I was able to sit in with the Minnesota Farm Bureau and listen to both Representatives Walz and Peterson talk about everything agriculture, fielding some tough questions from the crowd during their 20 minutes each alone with the group of about 30 constituents. I was also able to personally talk to Mr. Walz when he was waiting for one of the 4 elevators on our floor to show up so he could be on his way to the hearings about Walter Reed. I actually learned a lot during the two 1-on-1 sessions, as they talked about possibly finding a fix for the disaster in MN's Red River Valley Region in 2005-2007 (drought), and also possibly making sure that MILC will continue along with the rest of the Farm Bill until September 1 (it is now scheduled to end a month short). As talked about in some places earlier, they would both be attached onto the Iraq funding bill, which is messy and no one wants to do, but it may be the only way it gets done. It also brings a much-needed side effect I never realized; because MILC would continue through fiscal Year 2007, CBO would be required to put it in their budget baseline for the Farm Bill, which means that the money should be there for that program at least (while the general consensus is that the overall baseline will drop with prices as they are). One other important issue that came up was the possibility of eliminating manure as having a 'hazardous substance' status. I cannot believe that this ever happened, as that would mean the whole cities of New York and Washington, D.C. should be made federal disaster areas, with all the human-supplied manure we have there.

It again ended up being a very informational day, and I began doing some research for a paper comparing Mr. Peterson with 1-3 other Congressmen, which gets very interesting when you take into account vote counts and conservative or liberal tendencies. Tomorrow I think I will be working construction and secretary, as not too much is scheduled and we should in recess in the house at about noon.