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Blanche Lincoln 
Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 15:41:17 PM PDT
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Blanche Lincoln's hardly sat in the Senate Ag Committee's chairwoman seat long enough to warm it up, and she's already up to no good. Congress Daily has a piece up called "Lincoln: No Support For House Climate Bill." And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Note that this was all said in a speech to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
Blanche on the climate bill:
In comments after the speech, Lincoln she said does not support the House-passed climate-change bill because it "picks winners and losers" and "places a disproportionate share of the burden" on her home state of Arkansas in particular and rural and poor America in general. Lincoln said she will not support a climate change bill in the Senate if it is similar to the House-passed bill.
Blanche on the estate tax: She calls it an "absolute disadvantage" to farm and ranch families.
Blanch on the Clean Water Act:
Moving to the environment, Lincoln said a provision in the Clean Water Restoration Act passed by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that covers "the waters of the United States" rather than "navigable" waters needs to be amended so EPA does not interpret it to cover all waters.
"We've seen in the past where the imagination can be stretched," Lincoln said. "We don't need the imagination to be stretched right now."
Blanche on free trade:
Lincoln also addressed trade, arguing that the world market for U.S. farmers "is not free or fair at this juncture." The Bush administration made concessions on agriculture in the Doha round negotiations last year even though other countries had not reciprocated, she said, adding that any further negotiations should start "with a new text." She also urged the Obama administration to push the Colombia and Panama free trade agreements and make it easier to sell U.S. products in Cuba.
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Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT
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Recently I've had a lot to say about new Senate Ag Committee chair Blanche Lincoln, most all of it negative. However, even though she's the chair, she's limited in her ability to really change the priorities of the committee. Sitting next to her on Ag are four powerful committee chairs: Harkin (HELP), Leahy (Judiciary), Baucus (Finance), and Conrad (Budget). Lincoln has some measure of freedom to pursue what she wants, but she has to keep those four happy. Both Leahy and Harkin are committed to conservation and organics. Additionally, Harkin comes from a corn and soy state (IA), and Leahy comes from a major dairy state (VT), so they will always represent those interests.
Lincoln herself faces two challenges in keeping her spot as Ag Committee Chair. First, she needs to get re-elected in 2010. Second, Harkin can actually take his chairmanship back from her if he wants. My hunch is the more likely of these two scenarios is Lincoln losing her election. I don't know why Harkin would take back his chairmanship unless a) Dodd decided to take HELP from Harkin or b) Harkin was REALLY REALLY unhappy with what Lincoln was doing on Ag. Translation: This is not a very likely scenario, but it is something that Lincoln will have in the back of her mind when negotiating with Harkin over bills considered by the committee.
At stake is the writing of the 2012 farm bill. As the chair during 2009-2010, Lincoln will get to write the Child Nutrition Reauthorization, but whoever is chair in 2012 will write the next farm bill and that's a BIG deal. I really, REALLY hope Lincoln's not in charge at that time.
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Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 16:30:06 PM PDT
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"Lincoln is "a great champion" for agriculture," according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. That tells you all you need to know. The same Reuters article also called Lincoln a "staunch defender" of commodity subsidies.
For more read-it-and-weep news about Lincoln, I recommend this piece on her by Tom Laskawy. He says:
And what about Blanche Lincoln? Well, as Phil Brasher of the Des Moines Register puts it:
Lincoln is as vigorous a proponent for large farms and livestock interests (think Arkansas-based Tyson Foods) as there is in Congress. Pair her with the panel's senior Republican, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, and you have a powerful one-two punch for the southern perspective on agricultural policy.
Let's spell out what that could mean. More leniency on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). No bans on non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock. No cleanups for manure lagoons. More rice and cotton subsidies. And, by the way, Lincoln thinks limiting payments to even the largest farms is a rotten idea. Meanwhile, since the Agriculture Committee is likely to play a key role in marking up climate legislation, it's worth considering her views on that front. Here's ag reporter Chris Clayton:
Lincoln also likely is going to be more skeptical of climate legislation because it may offer little benefit for rice growers or producers of other southern crops. She was quoted in mid-August saying Congress should just focus on a renewable-energy bill and drop the cap-and-trade emissions plan.
Not only that, but Lincoln's currently facing a tough re-election race in 2010, giving her incentive to move even further to the right.
If you aren't familiar with the Farm Bureau, please watch the 60 Minutes videos I've embedded below.
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Tue Sep 08, 2009 at 22:12:51 PM PDT
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The Senate upheaval caused by the death of Ted Kennedy appears to be very, very bad. Kennedy chaired the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee. Second and third in line for the chairmanship are Dodd and Harkin. According to the Washington Post, Dodd will decline HELP to stay at Banking and Harkin will leave Agriculture for HELP. The next 3 in line for Ag already have influential chairmanships that they won't give up (Baucus in Finance, Conrad in Budget, and Leahy in Judiciary), and 4th in line is Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. Yuck. (If, for some reason, Lincoln declined the Ag Chair position, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan would get it, and that would be good.)
The only silver lining here is that Lincoln faces a rough 2010 re-election race, and she might lose.
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Thu Aug 27, 2009 at 15:22:52 PM PDT
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The death of Ted Kennedy just went from "that's sad" to "oh shit!" I've been saying for ages that we're lucky to have Tom Harkin chairing the Senate Ag Committee because he takes some very good stances on things like organics and child nutrition. And I've also said that if we want true change in food & ag policy, we need to shake up the membership and leadership of both ag committees, particularly the House.
Well, with the loss of Sen. Kennedy, we might be getting that shake-up, but not in a good way. Kennedy chaired the Senate's HELP committee (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions). Next in line for that post is Dodd, who already chairs Banking. If Dodd keeps his chairmanship for Banking, then the HELP chairmanship goes to Harkin. And if Harkin takes it... then there's a vacancy for Ag.
Next in line for the Ag chairmanship are Kent Conrad, Max Baucus, and Pat Leahy. However, right now Conrad's got Budget, Baucus has Finance, and Leahy has Judiciary. There's about zero chance that any of them would give up those posts in order to take Agriculture. Next in line for Ag is.... Blanche Lincoln (D-Tyson & Walmart). And that's some seriously bad news.
In addition to her conservative policy positions, here's a taste of who in the lobbying world used to work for Sen. Lincoln:
Greg Means (Alpine Group) - Managed Blanche Lincoln's 1992 House campaign
Charles Barnett (Alpine Group) - Leg Asst to Blanche Lincoln 1999-2003
Clients: 3M, BP America, Home Depot, Renewable Energy Group Inc
Kelly Bingel (Mehman Vogel Castagnetti, Inc) - Chief of Staff to Blanche Lincoln 1993-2005
Clients: Abbott Labs, America's Health Insurance Plans, American Petroleum Institute, Business Round Table, Clean Energy Fuels Corporation (a natural gas company), Merck, Proctor & Gamble, Walmart
Ben Noble (Troutman Sanders Public Affairs Group, LLC) - Policy Advisor to Blanche Lincoln 2000-2001
Clients: Agricultural Development Council, Anheuser Busch, Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority, Monsanto, National Cotton Council of America, USA Rice Federation
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Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:00:00 AM PDT
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In 2004, the Senate formed a bipartisan Senate Hunger Caucus to call attention to the issue of hunger. One of the co-founders is Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). Her website lists the entire membership - which basically includes 1/3 of the Senate. If these Senators are really so concerned about hunger, then why isn't the problem solved yet?
The other chairs besides Blanche Lincoln are Dick Durbin (D-IL), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), and Gordon Smith (R-OR).
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