Let’s finish this farm bill

When I was little, I used a lot of stall tactics to keep from going to bed. I used to tell my dad I wanted to watch the 10 p.m. news, because I wanted to follow the tempo of Denver anchor Bob Palmer, who I wanted to be just like when I grew up.

(Yep, even at the age of 5, I knew I wanted to be a reporter. Funny how that worked out.)

I tried to stall out mom by asking for an extra glass of water or to make sure I was saying my prayers right. I was a crafty little stinker who’d try anything to get my way.

I’d wind up losing in getting my way as many times as I won, but I knew it was worth the shot to try. Later in life, I realized this was called gambling.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-TX, reminds me of the Little Larry of 55 years ago. He’s been stalling like crazy to get his way toward his side’s kind of farm bill.

I’m betting Conaway likely knew all along his farm bill, loaded with an expensive plan to create a job training program to remove some people off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was going to go down in flames. Just like I’d fight for a last drink of water, Conaway was putting up a good fight to help his outgoing speaker, Paul Ryan, have one last chance at remaking the social safety net.

As Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-KS, tried to tell Conaway as far back as last spring, the notion of such a change was a losing cause.

Roberts, along with Ranking Member Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-MI, and House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson, D-MN, had been for a bipartisan farm bill from the git-go, but had to deal with the chairman of a social reengineering group rather than a team centered around those who raise food and fiber as well as those who consume those items.

Now, as the Democrats are about to retake the House, Conaway wants some bill, any bill, to be his legacy as chairman. This is where that being crafty mentioned earlier would have better served Conaway here.

With negotiations coming down to the final hours before the House adjourns for a final time under the GOP, it’s becoming clearer that the House GOP is having to make all the concessions I predicted last summer they’d have to make to get this bill passed.

The difference between my actions at age 5 and Conaway’s these days is that his actions have cost taxpayers money and farmers the ability to get the assistance they need. 

Conaway had to have had a big stake in this farm bill card game, as he kept calling and raising his bets to get what he wanted. He even brought in a freshman member from Roberts’ home state to call out the senior member of his delegation in hopes of moving the bill. That was a bad gamble on that freshman’s part.

As Conaway’s plan is now as empty a hand as a pair of deuces, it’s time for him and Ryan to fold ‘em.

No more gambling. No more extra drinks of water. It’s time for Conaway to realize the game is over and finish this farm bill to take care of our farmers and ranchers who are hurting through low prices and tariffs.

Larry Dreiling can be reached at 785-628-1117 or [email protected].