Congress Convenes, NCGA Hits the Ground Running (1-5-07)

As the 110th Congress convenes, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is busy educating Capitol Hill legislators and staff on key corn grower’s issues.

Jon Doggett, NCGA vice president of Public Policy, said, “This is a big year for corn growers. We have a farm bill to do. There will be a lot of activity on energy – especially renewable energy. And, with the new majorities, there is change and that always provides both challenges and opportunities. It is going to be a fun and busy year.”

In the first hours of the new Congress, senators introduced the first of many renewable fuels bills. In an effort to build on the renewable fuels standard passed in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Joseph Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) introduced the BioFuels Security Act. The legislation is meant to increase renewable fuels use through higher renewable fuels standards (RFS), greater availability of ethanol pumps and increased production of cars equipped to run on alternative fuel sources.

In addition to the Senate, House leadership is also working on legislation that could enable the government to collect up to $16 billion from oil and gas companies and put that funding toward more renewable and alternative energy programs. This effort is part of the House leadership’s “100 Hours” legislation agenda.

This year also marks a farm bill year, where discussions on and off the Hill have already begun. In 2006, both House and Senate members held hearings throughout the country and on Capitol Hill to get producers’ input on what they need in farm policy and it is anticipated that new hearings will begin again, possibly sometime in February.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also held a farm bill forums throughout 2006 and it is expected the agency will release its formal farm bill recommendation in the next two months.

NCGA has discussed its revenue-based safety net proposal in numerous meetings with members, government and commodity representatives.

In addition to energy and farm policy, NCGA continues to advocate for a variety of issues such as conservation, transportation, trade and biotechnology.