Combest: Heritage Action obsessed with agriculture
August 04, 2015 |07:02 PM
SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. — Former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest said here this week that Heritage Action, the division of the Heritage Foundation that scores members’ votes, has become obsessed with agriculture, particularly sugar policy, at the expense of bigger issues that conservatives care more about.
Larry Combest
“I looked at the scorecard Heritage used to grade House Members in the 113th Congress,” Combest said in a speech to the American Sugar Alliance International Sweetener Symposium here on Monday.
“This is what I discovered: Heritage Action has either got a strange obsession over U.S. farm policy or it is beholden to some really high-dollar contributors with a financial stake against farmers.”
Combest noted that Heritage Action had scored votes on the farm bill six times, “more than any other issue that came before the House in the 113th Congress. More than the debt ceiling. More than Keystone Energy. More than the budget. More than amnesty. More than mega appropriations bills. More than terrorism. More than abortion. And, get this: even more than Obamacare.”
Combest continued, “In the 113th Congress, Heritage Action was too busy bullying farmers and ranchers to have the time to score House members on votes to stop EPA’s Waters of the U.S. regulation. Heritage also didn’t have time to score House votes on EPA’s climate change regulations. Nor time to score votes on any of EPA’s other regulations. There was no score on protecting gun rights. No score on repealing the death tax, on tax reform or relief, the right to life, medical malpractice reform, or religious freedom. Heritage Action did not even have time to score House votes on protecting the border.”
“Americans are not losing any sleep over no-cost U.S. sugar policy,” said Combest, who serves as a consultant to ASA.
He noted that in a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, GOP primary voters listed national security and terrorism as their top issues, followed by deficit reduction and lowering federal spending, job creation and economic growth, declining religious and moral values, immigration, and health care.
This pattern, coupled with Heritage Action’s relatively low ranking for members such as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., are causing it to lose credibility, Combest said, citing a recent National Journal story.
Combest pointed out that he grew up in West Texas, represented the 19th District of Texas in the House for 18 years (1985 to 2003) and that the Almanac of American Politics ranked him as one of the most conservative members of the House.
“That’s likely because I always stood up for conservative values,” Combest said. “But I never once believed that these values required me to turn my back on rural America and the families who feed, clothe, and fuel this country and so much of the world. I see zero conflict between conservatism and supporting American agriculture, and judging by the election map every two years rural America sees it the same way I do.”
“But, then again, none of us confuse real conservatism with blowhards, belligerence, and bad strategy,” he said.
“I looked at the scorecard Heritage used to grade House Members in the 113th Congress,” Combest said in a speech to the American Sugar Alliance International Sweetener Symposium here on Monday.
“This is what I discovered: Heritage Action has either got a strange obsession over U.S. farm policy or it is beholden to some really high-dollar contributors with a financial stake against farmers.”
Combest noted that Heritage Action had scored votes on the farm bill six times, “more than any other issue that came before the House in the 113th Congress. More than the debt ceiling. More than Keystone Energy. More than the budget. More than amnesty. More than mega appropriations bills. More than terrorism. More than abortion. And, get this: even more than Obamacare.”
Combest continued, “In the 113th Congress, Heritage Action was too busy bullying farmers and ranchers to have the time to score House members on votes to stop EPA’s Waters of the U.S. regulation. Heritage also didn’t have time to score House votes on EPA’s climate change regulations. Nor time to score votes on any of EPA’s other regulations. There was no score on protecting gun rights. No score on repealing the death tax, on tax reform or relief, the right to life, medical malpractice reform, or religious freedom. Heritage Action did not even have time to score House votes on protecting the border.”
“Americans are not losing any sleep over no-cost U.S. sugar policy,” said Combest, who serves as a consultant to ASA.
He noted that in a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, GOP primary voters listed national security and terrorism as their top issues, followed by deficit reduction and lowering federal spending, job creation and economic growth, declining religious and moral values, immigration, and health care.
This pattern, coupled with Heritage Action’s relatively low ranking for members such as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., are causing it to lose credibility, Combest said, citing a recent National Journal story.
Combest pointed out that he grew up in West Texas, represented the 19th District of Texas in the House for 18 years (1985 to 2003) and that the Almanac of American Politics ranked him as one of the most conservative members of the House.
“That’s likely because I always stood up for conservative values,” Combest said. “But I never once believed that these values required me to turn my back on rural America and the families who feed, clothe, and fuel this country and so much of the world. I see zero conflict between conservatism and supporting American agriculture, and judging by the election map every two years rural America sees it the same way I do.”
“But, then again, none of us confuse real conservatism with blowhards, belligerence, and bad strategy,” he said.
