Candidates discuss EPA, TPA, Cuba, GMOs, COOL, crop insurance, food stamps, wind tax breaks
March 07, 2015 |08:14 PM
DES MOINES — Bruce Rastetter, organizer of the Iowa Ag Summit here today, asked each Republican presidential hopeful who attended a range of questions on agriculture-related issues.
THE ENVIRONMENT — When asked about how to handle pollutants, all the candidates said they prefer market-oriented, cooperative ways to handle pollution problems, and that the Environmental Protection Agency is a government department that wants to control the country.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the EPA is “a pig in slop. We have to begin to rein in this top-down driven regulatory system. The first thing you do is you change presidents.”
TRADE — All the candidates said they would want Congress to grant them trade promotion authority to negotiate new agreements. But all said they would not support increasing trade with Cuba until the Cuban government makes major changes in governance and human rights.
“In Cuba you won’t change the culture ’til Castro is gone,” said former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Rastetter asked several candidates why they favored trade with China but not Cuba, and several replied that the United States has to do business with China because it is so big.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said, “We have basically surrendered to the Chinese market. We have let China get away things in free-trade agreements because we have globalists and corporatists.”
FOOD LABELING — All said they oppose labeling of genetically modified organisms because that might signal there is something unsafe about them.
But both Bush and Huckabee said they like country-of-origin labeling for foods.
Responding to a question about COOL from Rastetter, Bush said, “I like that as a consumer. When I go to Publix in Coral Gables, as I will tomorrow, we will be cooking Iowa beef … I will make a really good guacamole and I want to know where the avocado and onions are from.”
He also noted that labeling “is prevalent in the supermarkets in this country.”
Huckabee said that country-of-origin labeling “makes more sense to me” that labeling genetically modified foods. He said he does not want fish that he does not consider to be catfish coming into the country and being sold as catfish.
IMMIGRATION — All the candidates said it is important to secure the border before allowing more immigrants into the United States.
But Bush and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., took more liberal positions on immigration.
“Immigrants that are here need to have a path to legalized status,” Bush told the staid crowd.
“What we need to do is to make sure people pay fines, that they learn English, that they work, that they don’t receive government assistance, that they earn legalized status over the long haul, that they come out from the shadows so that they can be productive with a provisional work permit,” Bush said. “This is the only serious, thoughtful way, I think, to deal with this.”
Graham said the country needs immigration reform because it will need workers.
Not all 11 million people who are in the United States today illegally will go back to their home countries, he said, noting that no side will get everything it wants in an immigration bill.
CROP INSURANCE — Several candidates said they supported crop insurance. Rastetter did not raise the issue of the commodity title of the farm bill.
WIND ENERGY — Rastetter asked all the candidates about wind energy and the lapsed wind production tax credit. All said they favor the development of wind energy, but none of the candidates seemed interested in restoring the wind tax credit.
FOOD STAMPS — Rastetter asked some of the candidates what changes they would make to the food stamp program, formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Huckabee said he would combine 17 government nutrition programs and turn over much of the management to the states. He said that when he was governor he wanted to undertake an experiment under which he would have encouraged people to buy healthier food with food stamps, but that the Agriculture Department would not permit it.
Huckabee, who has struggled with his own weight, said he wanted to provide Arkansans “weighted food stamps” under which a dollar in food stamps would have been worth $1.25 if people bought fruits and vegetables, but only 85 cents if they bought junk food.
(Under the Obama administration, the Agriculture Department has launched pilot projects that provide food stamp beneficiaries more money to buy fruits and vegetables.)
Walker said he has been as strict as possible on food stamps in Wisconsin, requiring adults without children to register for work programs. He said that although some have complained he is making it harder to get assistance, his view is that he is making it easier to get a job.
Recalling his sons’ football games, Walker said a food stamp beneficiary without a job is like a football player who sits on the bench with his helmet off. That player “will never get called” to play, he said, while a player who has his mouth guard in and stands next to the coach is more likely to be brought into the game.
Walker got some of the most enthusiastic applause of the day in response to these comment
THE ENVIRONMENT — When asked about how to handle pollutants, all the candidates said they prefer market-oriented, cooperative ways to handle pollution problems, and that the Environmental Protection Agency is a government department that wants to control the country.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the EPA is “a pig in slop. We have to begin to rein in this top-down driven regulatory system. The first thing you do is you change presidents.”
TRADE — All the candidates said they would want Congress to grant them trade promotion authority to negotiate new agreements. But all said they would not support increasing trade with Cuba until the Cuban government makes major changes in governance and human rights.
“In Cuba you won’t change the culture ’til Castro is gone,” said former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Rastetter asked several candidates why they favored trade with China but not Cuba, and several replied that the United States has to do business with China because it is so big.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said, “We have basically surrendered to the Chinese market. We have let China get away things in free-trade agreements because we have globalists and corporatists.”
FOOD LABELING — All said they oppose labeling of genetically modified organisms because that might signal there is something unsafe about them.
But both Bush and Huckabee said they like country-of-origin labeling for foods.
Responding to a question about COOL from Rastetter, Bush said, “I like that as a consumer. When I go to Publix in Coral Gables, as I will tomorrow, we will be cooking Iowa beef … I will make a really good guacamole and I want to know where the avocado and onions are from.”
He also noted that labeling “is prevalent in the supermarkets in this country.”
Huckabee said that country-of-origin labeling “makes more sense to me” that labeling genetically modified foods. He said he does not want fish that he does not consider to be catfish coming into the country and being sold as catfish.
IMMIGRATION — All the candidates said it is important to secure the border before allowing more immigrants into the United States.
But Bush and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., took more liberal positions on immigration.
“Immigrants that are here need to have a path to legalized status,” Bush told the staid crowd.
“What we need to do is to make sure people pay fines, that they learn English, that they work, that they don’t receive government assistance, that they earn legalized status over the long haul, that they come out from the shadows so that they can be productive with a provisional work permit,” Bush said. “This is the only serious, thoughtful way, I think, to deal with this.”
Graham said the country needs immigration reform because it will need workers.
Not all 11 million people who are in the United States today illegally will go back to their home countries, he said, noting that no side will get everything it wants in an immigration bill.
CROP INSURANCE — Several candidates said they supported crop insurance. Rastetter did not raise the issue of the commodity title of the farm bill.
WIND ENERGY — Rastetter asked all the candidates about wind energy and the lapsed wind production tax credit. All said they favor the development of wind energy, but none of the candidates seemed interested in restoring the wind tax credit.
FOOD STAMPS — Rastetter asked some of the candidates what changes they would make to the food stamp program, formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Huckabee said he would combine 17 government nutrition programs and turn over much of the management to the states. He said that when he was governor he wanted to undertake an experiment under which he would have encouraged people to buy healthier food with food stamps, but that the Agriculture Department would not permit it.
Huckabee, who has struggled with his own weight, said he wanted to provide Arkansans “weighted food stamps” under which a dollar in food stamps would have been worth $1.25 if people bought fruits and vegetables, but only 85 cents if they bought junk food.
(Under the Obama administration, the Agriculture Department has launched pilot projects that provide food stamp beneficiaries more money to buy fruits and vegetables.)
Walker said he has been as strict as possible on food stamps in Wisconsin, requiring adults without children to register for work programs. He said that although some have complained he is making it harder to get assistance, his view is that he is making it easier to get a job.
Recalling his sons’ football games, Walker said a food stamp beneficiary without a job is like a football player who sits on the bench with his helmet off. That player “will never get called” to play, he said, while a player who has his mouth guard in and stands next to the coach is more likely to be brought into the game.
Walker got some of the most enthusiastic applause of the day in response to these comment
