McMorris Rodgers predicts farm bill approval next month

During a visit through the Palouse country last week, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, said she believes Congress will turn out a farm bill in September when representatives convene after the summer recess. Status of the farm bill was one of the main topics during her visit here.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that we have the ability to get the farm bill on the President’s desk by the end of September,” she said during a stop at the Gazette while visiting Colfax Friday.

On her trip down from Spokane early Friday, McMorris Rodgers got a chance to ride in a combine on the Randy Suess ranch at Steptoe.

McMorris Rodgers said she was surprised when the first farm bill failed to get a majority in the House of Representatives.

“I was completely surprised,” she said. “I didn’t have a hint.”

She believes there is enough support in the House to approve the 15 percent of the bill that deals with farm policy. The other 85 percent of the bill which deals with nutrition and food stamps may still be cut back, she predicted.

McMorris Rodgers explained Republicans want to create transparency within the Farm Bill because of abuse of the food stamp program. Part of the change is that work requirements were pulled back.

Another provision which has generated opposition is automatic food stamp access for families who qualify for low income housing.

McMorris Rodgers predicted the proposed split off of farm bill provisions will not last, and she believes it will not get through the Senate in that form.

The representative also talked about the Veteran’s Administration, which she described as “a challenge.”

“It’s common for us to get complaints about the VA,” she said.

When asked about working across party lines, she talked about heading the hydropower legislation signed by the President Aug. 9. She pointed out that she, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and a representative from Colorado got that legislation through Congress.

“The ultimate goal is to have hydropower as a renewable resource,” she said.

The legislation would quicken the licensing process for some dams and promote energy production in irrigation canals.

She described the bill as a first step in reminding people of the role of hydropower as a renewable energy source.

After seeing a report from the Department of Energy that only three percent of the nation’s dams with energy-producing potential contained turbines, she felt easing licensing requirements by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should become a priority.

Adding energy production by retrofitting the largest 100 dams in the country could boost the nation’s production enough to power 3.2 million more homes, the department’s study said.

McMorris Rodgers believes hydropower production could double without building one more dam.

Among the 100 dams in the study, 12 are located in Washington and Idaho.

McMorris Rodgers said she also knows her constituents are concerned about health care.

“I believe we need health care reform in America,” she said, adding that the rural areas in the country need access to health care.

“My concern with the President’s health care law is that legislation is making it worse, for the health care system and the economy,” she said. “There’s got to be a better way.”

She said the law needs to be replaced with a better approach.

She said there is continued debate.

“We need a transparency of costs,” she said. “We need to protect the doctor-patient relationship.”

McMorris Rodgers also said she is concerned about privacy.

Although she voted twice for the Patriot Act, she harbored concerns, but fully supported the act when a sunset clause was added. Recently, though, with privacy issues raising concerns with the public, she has voted to pull funding for the National Security Agency.

“We need some answers,” she said.

McMorris Rodgers said she will continue to work across party lines.

“I look for opportunities to build relationships,” she said. “I work a lot across the aisle on disability issues. I look for those opportunities.”

She said the one thing that won’t change is the “battle and debate on fiscal issues.”

After a forum at the Public Service Building in Colfax later Friday morning, McMorris Rodgers went to Pullman to attend the National Lentil Festival and to Washington State University.