By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Rep. Roger Marshall said Kansas farmers need to hold on and endure some short-term pain to reap long-term gain on trade.
Marshall said to expect news any day on the tariffs with Mexico. He said Mexico, Japan, the European Union, Canada and other trade partners know President Trump is not going to flinch on tariffs.
Marshall was in Hays on Friday and was on hand during the announcement of a $50,000 grant for Fort Hays State University’s Forsyth Library and at a Hays Area Chamber of Commerce Chat at the Historic Fort Hays.
“It is not fair that China charges us 25 percent minimum tariff and we can only charge them a 2 percent tariff based on (World Trade Organization) rules,” Marshall said.
President Trump recently announced a $12 billion aid package to U.S. farmers to compensate for ag losses in the trade war. That aid will be under the control of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Marshall said he saw the aid going proportionally to the producers with the commodities hardest hit by the tariff’s, especially pork and sorghum.
See related story: Trump tapping $12B to help farmers affected by tariffs
“I truly, truly think better days are ahead of us,” he said.
Both the House and Senate have approved versions of the Farm Bill, and a conference committee will take up the legislation on Sept. 5. Marshall said he hoped Congress would have a final bill to the president by Sept. 30, when the current Farm Bill is set to expire.
Some Democrats have opposed the Farm Bill because it requires work to receive food assistance.
Marshall supports the work requirement. He said last year more than 9 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 59 without a disability and without young children at home who needed child care had zero income.
“What we wanted to do was give these people the opportunity to work,” Marshall said. “All we ask is that they work or train to work 20 hours a week. If you can’t pay for training, we will help pay for training. We will even let you volunteer — say volunteer at a food bank or volunteer serving meals at a senior center.
“We think we need to engage people. Right now, the biggest problem we have facing Kansas in the economy is a lack of labor, so if you can’t get a job right now, maybe you can’t pass a drug test or maybe you don’t have the work training either. Let’s give those people the opportunity.”
Although most people think of the agriculture industry when they think of the Farm Bill, the bill touches on others aspects of rural life, including improvement of high-speed internet and housing and water projects.
“All across my district, these water projects are aging out,” Marshall said. “110-year-old water towers — guess what? They’re rotting out. So I’m very, very proud of this Farm Bill that is going through.”
Victoria is receiving a federal grant for its latest water project, which will connect the city to the rural water district in WaKeeney. It will provide Victoria with 50,000 gallons of water per day to supplement the Victoria wells, which are running low.
“That is going to alleviate some of the pressure on our wells,” Victoria Mayor John Schulte said, “and at the same time, we are doing some projects in town. We are replacing some lines in town that are 100 plus years old.”
Congress and the president are dedicated to bringing billions of dollars in needed infrastructure funds to rural America, Marshall said.
“The rest of the country’s economy is going incredibly well,” he said “I have never seen an economy like this on a national level, but rural America with four years of lagging commodity prices, low oil prices … Rural America has struggled, and they will be the last piece of this puzzle to put together.”
Marshall also touched briefly on immigration in an interview after the grant presentation at FHSU.
He said he supports giving President Trump the $25 billion he wants to secure the border. He said the president’s “wall” is just an analogy of what securing the border looks like. Portions of the physical border need to be reinforced, but Marshall said he did not see a physical wall spanning the complete border with Mexico. Some of the funds from the president’s request will go toward tools for the border patrol, including UAVs.
Marshall said he has visited the board and was assured the border patrol knows the best way to secure the border.
He also supports agricultural guest worker visas. This would not be a path to citizenship, but help alleviate labor shortages in rural Kansas where unemployment is low.
“We need to fix this immigration system and have long-term solutions that are fair to everybody,” Marshall said.
He also said he would support long-term legal status for young people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which is also known as DACA. He said would support allowing those in the DACA program to “get in line” for the immigration process, but he said he was not in favor for any special pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients.
Marshall is currently seeking re-election to his second term in Congress. He will face Democrat Alan LaPolice in the November general election.
