In relation to committee assignments, most members of the United States Senate or Home or Representatives aren’t bursting on the seams to get on the agriculture committee.
Joel Leftwich, chief coverage officer, Kansas Farm Bureau (KFB), mentioned that’s partly the fault of their constituents.
Leftwich, who previous to acquiring his present place with KFB was a member of former Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts’ employees, supplied his insights on the scenario whereas talking on the 2024 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit on Could 8 in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri.
How committee assignments work
As soon as elections are held, Home and Senate members sometimes meet with the management of their political events, Leftwich defined.
Round December, members of each chambers put of their requests for which committees they need to be a part of. Every social gathering has their very own guidelines in place on how committee members are chosen, and historically, some committees are deemed extra essential than others. Each events see the agriculture as an “A committee,” which implies it’s seen as one among higher significance.
And each events say an individual is restricted on what number of “A committees” an elected official can serve.
What usually occurs, he mentioned, is that after that course of has been accomplished, there are “not sufficient individuals on the Home and Senate ag committees to adjust to the principles of each the Home and the Senate.”
“So, what have they got to do? They should waive their guidelines for extra members to only sit the committees,” Leftwich mentioned.
How voters can change that
Leftwich believes a big a part of why some elected officers don’t make getting on the agriculture committee a precedence is as a result of they don’t suppose it’s a committee essential to their constituents.
“What does that inform you concerning the significance of the Senate Agriculture Committee or the Home Agriculture Committee within the eyes of elected officers? It’s not as horny because the Banking Committee. It’s not as horny because the Appropriations Committee,” mentioned Leftwich. “One of many causes for that’s how usually do they hear about points which are essential to agriculture after they’re again residence.”
Whereas members of each chambers will hear about agricultural points after they meet with members of county Farm Bureau organizations or with commodity teams just like the Kansas Soybean Affiliation, after they go to city corridor conferences, they’re extra apt to listen to about different points.
It’s as much as individuals concerned in agriculture to vary that, not solely by asking their elected officers questions associated to agriculture, but in addition by asking their mates and neighbors to do the identical. In the event that they don’t, the scenario won’t get any higher.
