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Lincoln succeeding Harkin: Whats that about?
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CopyFARMING AND YOUR FREEDOM
One of the important ramifications of the recent death of fabled U.S. Sen. Edward (Ted) Kennedy (D-Mass.) was the succession to his chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee-the one charged with making enough sausage to squirt out a healthcare reform biU sometime this year.
Kennedy will be succeeded by Midwestern liberal Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Ia.), an acolyte of Kennedy's for years in the healthcare trenches.
Harkin's elevation has important ramifications for farmers, too. He will be replaced on the equally powerful Senate Agriculture Committee by a woman, who happens to be a not-so-liberal senator from Arkansas, Sen. Blanche Lincoln.
Harkin, 70, has been a mainstay of the Ag Committee for most of his years in the Senate and the fact that he championed farmers served to blunt the edges of his social liberalism in a relatively conservative part of the country. Many farmers enjoy Harkin's populism. My bet, though, is that his star among farmers will diminish with his service on the Health panel, but will shine brightly nationally while the debate on healthcare reform continues and legislation is forged. Harkin, you may remember, ran for president awhile back. His issue: Healthcare reform.
Who knows how all of that will bode for his re-election plans. He plans to remain on the Ag Committee while running the show over at Health, so he'll still dabble in ag issues, perhaps enough so that his influence will continue and his re-election will be ensured.
Ms. Lincoln is a decidedly different political animal than Harkin. She succeeded the famed Dale Bumpers in the Senate from Arkansas. Lincoln is a moderate-to-conservative Democrat in her second Senate term, who championed farm subsidies during the fight for the 2008 Farm Bill. She founded and currently heads the bipartisan Senate Hunger Caucus, a group that focuses attention on the millions of Americans, especially children, who suffer from food insecurity, formerly known as hunger.
The first woman to lead the Senate Ag Committee, Sen. Lincoln, 49, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 and the Senate in 1998. She grew up on an Arkansas farm. That gives her one-up on Harkin.
The Farm Bureau Federation, the major conservative farm organization in America, said Lincoln "is a great champion for agriculture, and a good fighter for her beliefs." Harkin seldom enjoys such accolades from the old FB!
Showing her independence from the Obama Administration, Sen. Lincoln said earlier this year that "it isn't necessarily my preference to move cap and trade legislation this year." Said cap and trade is a diamond in the jewel of Obama's environmental and energy policies. Farmers tend to believe they might benefit from such legislation.
Harkin said Lincoln's preference would not matter much, because the Ag panel is not in charge of writing cap and trade legislation. We'll see.
Perhaps, there is another area outside of traditional ag policy that might give a window on Sen. Lincoln's political position in Washington. She said, Sept. 1, that she opposes a public health insurance option in healthcare reform bills because it will be too expensive. Wow, another zing for the Obamans!
As a member of the august U.S. Senate and a Democrat to boot, Lincoln's views will have importance in coming debates, but how she comports herself on the Ag Committee will be a particular focus for farmers in the Upper Midwest. After all, you never know what them Razorbacks, female or not, might do.
I'll see ya!
Copyright 2009 The Kalona News, Kalona, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.
© 2009 The Kalona News Kalona, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.
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