Noem: ‘I’ve put all my effort’ into farm bill

Via Argus Leader

WASHINGTON — Rep. Kristi Noem was one of 41 lawmakers from both the House and the Senate selected to write a farm bill. In an interview, the South Dakota Republican said she has been actively involved in the farm bill negotiations and was confident South Dakotans would recognize her involvement with the law in the November election. Here are excerpts from the interview:

QUESTION: While 41 lawmakers from the House and Senate are on the farm bill conference committee, four members and their staff have most of the responsibility. Are you as involved as you would like to be?

ANSWER: “I feel as though we have been very involved. I’ve never once felt as though I couldn’t go to the chairman or to the committee staff and know exactly where they were at and what was being done, even if I wasn’t in the room at that point in time.”

Q: Is the inability of Congress to get a farm bill done symbolic of the problems in Washington? Are constituents discouraged?

A: “They absolutely are very discouraged that we don’t have a farm bill done yet. I’m discouraged we don’t have a farm bill yet. For us, we even have more of a need to get this done as quickly as possible because of the losses that we’ve seen, not just through the blizzard, but also through the drought that we faced the year before. The livestock disaster programs are critically important. When it does come out, I think it will be favorable for our producers, but that’s why we see some discouragement in the fact that it’s not already there bringing some relief.”

Q: Are you concerned this will be an issue come the November election?

A: “I believe people in South Dakota know how hard I’ve worked for this farm bill, and they’ll see I’ve put all my effort, 110 percent, into getting it done. The next election will certainly be an opportunity to continue to reiterate everything we did to get this farm bill completed.”

Q: If Washington lawmakers are criticized for their work on the farm bill, are you concerned you could be included?

A: “I think that potential is certainly there. I think I have done a good (job) showing people how much time and effort, sweat and tears we’ve put into this farm bill that they know that even though we’ve had problems getting a farm bill, that it wasn’t because of my lack of effort.”