The U.S. House of Representatives takes up the Farm Bill tomorrow. Agriculture is our state’s largest industry, so this legislation affects every South Dakota family – directly or indirectly.
Given the powerful impact of federal agriculture policy, I visited Kristi Noem’s campaign website to learn about her positions on these issues. What I found – or didn’t find- appalled me. There’s not a single word about agriculture among the ‘Issues’ she chooses to spotlight.
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As Congress considers one of the most important bills for our state, Noem doesn’t even tell us where she stands on these issues. And this isn’t the first time. She attended only four of twenty agriculture committee hearings, did not make a single statement of substance during those she actually did attend, refused to explain why, then proclaimed she didn’t “go to DC to talk.”
Yet curiously, in her “Vision for Congress” Noem writes that she “will go to our nation’s capital and be South Dakota’s lone voice in the people’s House. We need a voice that speaks for the people of South Dakota and is not focused on currying favor… It’s time our voice was heard.”
Congresswoman Noem isn’t making your voice heard in the halls of Congress. And now, she says that’s not even what she went to DC to do. What’s that mean for us?
It’s time we made our voices heard back home.
South Dakota can no longer afford Noem’s silence.
Ben