09/28/06 House Demos push for disaster aid vote

Farm and Ranch September 28, 2006 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a discharge petition that would force the House to consider agriculture disaster assistance legislation once 218 members have signed it. The National Association of Wheat Growers and the National Barley Growers Association along with the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Farmers Union are among the over 30 organizations supporting the discharge petition. The NFU's Tom Bius says the future of that petition is hard to predict. Bius: "We are going to get a lot of signatures. We are going to get close. Whether we get enough may depend upon those members of the majority party willing to tell their House leadership this really matters to us. This really matters to our constituents." Senate efforts to advance aid in hurricane disaster and ag spending bills have failed in the House and a discharge petition is seen by some as the only way to bring the latest House bill directly to the floor. Bius dismissed political posturing but argues that elections can also help motivate those who are otherwise uncompromising. Bius: "They guys ought to stand and represent the interests of their district. Let's remove the politics of it is what we are saying. Just let us have a vote." As of Wednesday 124 members of the House had signed the discharge petition including Peter DeFazio and David Wu of Oregon and Rick Larsen of Washington. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.