Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley sent a letter Tuesday to Iowa's other senator, Tom Harkin, urging him to include a provision in the 2007 farm bill that would put a cap on federal payments to farmers.
Harkin a Democrat, is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, which is in the midst of writing the 2007 farm bill.
Grassley, a Republican, was joined by Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota in writing the letter to Harkin.
Grassley and Dorgan want Harkin to include their proposed cap, which was introduced in the Senate in May, in the 2007 farm bill. The Grassley-Dorgan legislation would cap payments under the federal farm program in order to better serve smaller farms rather than large corporate-farming operations.
Harkin has not formally responded to the letter, but his Agriculture Committee staff issued this statement to Iowa Independent: "Crafting the new farm bill is an open process. Chairman Harkin and the staff of the Senate Agriculture Committee are listening to various stakeholders and are considering a variety of proposals regarding the new bill. The chairman has said that at this point, nothing is off the table, but it is too soon to say what will be in his outline for the new bill."
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