Newhouse On Ag Issues

Congressman Dan Newhouse is a farmer first and a politician second so issues that affect farming and farmers is important to him. The recent droughts and fires have put a big hurt on resources throughout the state and he says he's very happy to see some snowpack.

NEWHOUSE: I, for one, an happy to see a good snowpack in the mountains, something we didn't see at all last year and that should help a lot with some of the drought issues we have if, and I hate to be too negative but some of the weather reports we're seeing and predictions of a La Nina effect could increase temperatures, could cause snowpack to melt prematurely and so we're watching that very carefully. But certainly having full reservoirs going into the summer season will be much better than it could be otherwise.

The TPP is another issue that people in Washington are keeping an eye on and even though it's been signed, it still need to be ratified and that may prove tough in a lame duck session.

NEWHOUSE: There are some that would like to get it done before the election, others not, would rather put it off. My guess at this point, Greg, is that at this point it will probably be during the lame duck session. Still a lot of people looking at the agreement, most of my colleagues in Congress are taking the time to weigh the agreement whether it's good for their particular states or not. You know my feelings about the trade and exports coming from the state of Washington. That's a tremendous part of our economic picture in Washington State.

And that's Washington Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.