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Senator Max Baucus to hold listening session at BSV |
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Friday, 12 January 2007 |
By Buck Traxler
I-O Editor
Sen. Max Baucus (D) will be holding a listening at Blue Sky Villa in Norley Hall on Jan. 13, 11 a.m.
The Senator, the only member of the Montana delegation to have a seat on the Agriculture Committee, will be helping to write the 2007 Farm Bill and is looking for input from farmers and ranchers.
The listening sessions are an open forum where producers can offer insight about the Farm Bill.
Baucus says, “It is good to hear from the Montanans directly, because you can’t craft a one-size-fits-all Farm Program.”
At other such meetings, the Senator has pointed to high oil-content crops – such as camelina, canola and safflower – that can be used to produce bio-diesel. In addition, he talks about using switch grass to produce ethanol.
He believes the Farm Bill should be expanded to provide a safety net for these alternative crops.
“The fields of Montana could hold the key to weaning America off foreign sources of energy,” Baucus says. “We need to give our producers a safety net, and they will produce crops that can help tackle our energy problems.”
Baucus has been a member of the Agricultural Committee since 1979.
In last week’s I-O, it was reported there was a possibility of losing an earmarked $750,000 STAG grant for the wastewater facility project.
Sen. Robert Byrd (D) and U.S. Representative Dave Obey (D) will lead the Senate and House Appropriations Committees respectively.
Together they have issued a statement outlining their plan to complete the unfinished federal funding bills for the current fiscal year.
In a prepared statement, they say, “There will be no Congressional earmarks in the joint funding resolution that we will pass. We will place a moratorium on all earmarks until a reformed process is put in place.”
The STAG grant was earmarked, but not “appropriated” and falls into the category of being eligible for consideration in the 2008 process, subject to” new standards for transparency and accountability.”
The alternative is to be prepared to have your taxes raised to help pay for the federal government mandated facility upgrade.
The session is free and open to the public
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