Noem Asks for Farm Bill Help

South Dakota Representative Kristi Noem recently reached out to President Barack Obama, asking him for help passing the stalled Farm Bill.

For the last several months, the 2012 Farm Bill has dominated rural news. In May, the Senate passed their version of the bill, putting the fate of the vital legislation in the hands of the House of Representatives. While the House Agriculture Committee passed a draft of the bill, House leadership refused to take action, keeping the bill off the House floor.

With Congress in recess until September, time is rapidly running out until the expiration of the current farm bill. The ongoing drought, in particular, is adding to the pressure on Congress to pass a new bill.

With the bill stalled, however, rural representatives are reaching out to unlikely allies to help renew the farm bill push. Noem, a South Dakota Republican, recently reached out to Barack Obama, asking him to lend his political clout to the farm bill fight.

“I would welcome your assistance in building support amongst the Democratic Caucus and would ask that you request that they publicly support our Farm Bill,” she wrote in a letter. “We need to put politics aside and come together to get this Farm Bill done. Agriculture and rural America are too important to make this a partisan issue.”

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Written by: Justin Ellison / Farm Plus Staff Writer