Showing posts with label Garamendi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garamendi. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

John Garamendi Votes to Not Fund Veterans and National Parks - "Garamendi Shutdown"

"The House of Representatives will make another attempt Wednesday to pass three emergency funding bills after each failed to obtain the required two-thirds majority Tuesday."

"The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday to consider the three measures backed by House Republicans, which are aimed at reopening parks and monuments, continuing veterans’ benefits and allowing the municipal government of the District of Columbia to function."

"Unlike on Tuesday, the latest bills will not be treated by House GOP leaders as suspension bills, which means they only need a simple majority vote to pass. On Tuesday, each measure needed 286 votes to pass. The parks funding bill went down by a tally of 252 in favor to 176 against, the veterans programs by 264 in favor to 164 against and the D.C. government funding by 265 in favor to 163 against."

The article about Democrats voting to not fund veterans and the National Parks is here.

Here is the Roll Call vote.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

2013 Farm Bill and Doug LaMalfa and John Garamendi

I have not been posting a lot on this blog lately, as I have been very busy with life. Especially in the spring and summer, life gets busy (and more fun). For the first time in a few months, I checked this blogs stats and discovered that an article about Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) and farm subsidies jumped to the number one most popular blog post ever written on this blog.

If you have not been paying attention, Doug LaMalfa has been getting a lot of ink nationally in connection with the 2013 Farm Bill.

On June 14, 2013, the Wall Street Journal wrote about Japonica rice which is the formal name for medium- and short-grain rice strains commonly called sticky rice. Doug LaMalfa is a fourth-generation Japonica Rice farmer whose farm has received over $5.1 million in farm subsidies since 1995.

While congressmen who receive this subsidy tout that they are ending direct payments, they are replacing direct payments with "guarantees against drops in commodity prices that are in some ways replacing the much-maligned direct payments to farmers Congress is seeking to end" - A huge corporate give away including guaranteed prices.

"The sticky-rice provision won strong support from, among others, two Northern California lawmakers from neighboring districts, according to congressional aides and people working with the rice industry: Freshman Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a fourth-generation Japonica Rice farmer who sits on the House agriculture committee; and Democratic Rep. John Garamendi, a rancher and pear farmer" (incidentally Dan Logue announced yesterday that he will be running against Garamendi in 2014).

"'What industry would have the temerity to demand that the government guarantee a price?' said Scott Faber, a vice president at EWG, which opposes such price programs. 'Sushi rice costs more to produce, but it yields more per acre, and costs more to buy,' he said. 'This is like guaranteeing a price for the iPhone 5.'"

Also on June 14, 2013, the Los Angeles Times wrote about the hypocrisy between cutting Food Stamps but at the same time dramatically increasing payments to corporate farms.

"As a member of Congress, Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) is proud to stand up for the principles of limited government and individual responsibility."

"The first-term congressman expresses skepticism about such safety-net programs as food stamps, regarding them as the handiwork of an 'oppressive' government that snatches wages from the hands of working people. Helping the poor is better left to individuals and churches, he said at a recent committee hearing in Washington, because then 'it comes from the heart, not from a badge or from a mandate.'"

"As a rice farmer from California's fertile Central Valley, however, this same Doug LaMalfa has done pretty well by the 'oppressive' federal government," as his farm has collected over $5.1 million in government crop subsidies.

Yesterday on the floor of Congress, Doug LaMalfa stated that he wanted the Farm Bill to pass already. If I were in that hot seat, I would likely want the bill to pass quickly too.

Proponents of the farm bill claim the bill will reduce the deficit, but it is actually a 56 percent increase from the 2008 farm bill, which was projected to cost $604 billion, but not surprisingly, the 2008 farm bill actually ended up costing much more.

I urge you to read the articles above by the Wall Street Journal and the LA Times, and form your own opinion about the farm bill and our local proponents.