John Block Reports from Washington: Weekly Show

Issues

John Block — 2013-05-09T11:44:30+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— Last week, I talked about the farm bill and prospects for passage. This week, I want to focus on a series of current issues. These are my thoughts: Immigration Reform – We desperately need to get it done. If we don’t, who’s going to milk the cows? Who’s going to butcher the hogs? Agriculture is pushing to pass the legislation. Even president Obama is behind a bill. It’s certainly not done yet, but I am still optimistic. Spending and Budgets – We don’t have any consensus here. The House budget, according to Paul Ryan, if it passed, would bring us into balance in 10 years. The Senate budget relies much more on new taxes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do anything to deal with the run-away entitlement programs...

More Cliffs Ahead

John Block — 2013-01-10T17:36:33+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— It’s a new year with some new challenges, but many of the old challenges are still with us. We have a farm bill extension to carry us through this year. Milk prices won’t double. It looks like all the work the ag committees did last year to try and get a bill was wasted. They will be starting all over again. There will be cuts in money allotted for agriculture – maybe 25 to 35 billion dollars – maybe more. Don’t expect the farm bill to be completed before next fall. There are more cliffs ahead. The first challenge will be the debt limit, which we have already technically surpassed—$16.4 trillion. Either the government shuts down or the Congress passes legislation to allow the...

Happy New Year

John Block — 2013-01-03T13:12:34+00:00

Merry Christmas

John Block — 2012-12-27T13:13:41+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— I hope you had a Merry Christmas this week. This is a joyous time of year as we celebrate the birth of Christ. Friends and family all come together to give thanks for our blessings. We know everything is not perfect here in this country, but just look around the world. It’s not so bad here. At this time of year, my mind always wanders back to when I was a boy down on the farm. I vividly remember the one-room country school that I attended for 8 years; how I rode my pony to school when the weather permitted. Our teacher was Mrs. Stevens – managing and teaching all 10 of us, 8 grades of kids in one room. In the winter, the older kids had to bring in coal from the coal house to stoke the...

Food Stamps for a Week

John Block — 2012-12-20T13:16:57+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— So, the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory Booker, went on food stamps for a week. Big deal! He has been on TV and interviewed by countless newspapers. Well, just for the record, I went on food stamps myself for a week 30 years ago. I wasn’t planning to run for Governor of Illinois. Mayor Booker has his eye on a race for New Jersey Governor against Governor Chris Christie in the next election. The situation 30 years ago was that President Reagan had been repeatedly attacked for not caring about the poor, not spending enough money on them. I wanted to see if the food stamp allotment was sufficient. After all, I was Secretary of Agriculture and responsible for administering the program. ...

Cabinet Secretaries Lunch

John Block — 2012-12-13T13:18:53+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— Last Friday, I hosted the Cabinet Secretaries Lunch at the famous Blair House. The Blair House is right across the street from the White House and provides overnight lodging for foreign leaders visiting the President and other high-level officials. It is a beautiful, prestigious setting for a luncheon. We had a crowd with some sixty former Cabinet members and spouses. This holiday celebration dates back to the Ronald Reagan days. Our first lunch was in 1981, hosted by Marshall Coin at his Madison Hotel. He was able to get six of the Reagan Cabinet to attend, including yours truly. Also, Vice President Bush joined the small gathering. That small group, from one Cabinet, working for one...

The Debt

John Block — 2012-12-06T13:20:42+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— I am still fuming over Secretary of the Treasury Geithner’s remarks on CBS Face The Nation last weekend. Of course, he stated again that the way to attack our debt problem is to tax the rich. That’s fine with me. We all know that in the end the rich will pay more either because of a rate increase or by closing tax loop holes. The statement that I didn’t like was his response when reminded that taxing the rich would not begin to solve the debt problem. Then he said, and I quote: “Reforming farm subsidies – very important to do – and they can raise substantial amounts of money.” A statement like that is beneath the Office of Secretary of the Treasury. Reforming ag programs will...

Food Waste

John Block — 2012-11-29T13:22:12+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— Every time I pick up a paper, I read about hungry people. Just to keep pace, we will have to double food production by 2050. If we don’t raise more food, millions will starve. What are we going to do? O.K. We do have a challenge. However, this year, even with the serious draught, the planet will produce a record grain harvest of 2.4 billion tons. Also, there are millions of underutilized acres of land in Africa that at some point in time will be producing a lot more. Today, their yields aren’t even half what ours are. But with biotechnology and draught-resistant seeds, their yields can increase. We will find ways to ramp up production. Yes, increasing production is one way to satisfy...

Thanksgiving

John Block — 2012-11-22T13:24:05+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— We just celebrated Thanksgiving. I know some of our citizens might have wondered if the good outweighs the bad. We have 8% unemployment. We suffered the worst drought in decades. Our economy is sputtering. All we hear about is the “fiscal cliff” that we are marching toward. If we fail to deal with our 16 trillion dollar debt problem, if we fail to raise taxes, if we fail to cut entitlement programs, we are doomed. The Middle East is smoldering, ready to explode – Israel and Hamas at each other’s throats. Iran on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Europe is falling back into recession. People are starving in Africa. There is a lot of bad out there. But, let’s be realistic....

Denmark

John Block — 2012-11-15T13:26:04+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— We have an organization called the Agribusiness Club that meets monthly for lunch. This year, I am serving as Chairman of the group. I invited Kansas Senator Pat Roberts to speak to us this week. Senator Roberts has been a strong and respected voice for agriculture for 30 years. When he speaks, we listen. Here is what he told us. On the farm bill, he said the Senate is ready to get it done. He said, “It won’t be any easier if it is delayed and handed off to a new Congress next year.” I would like to see it done, but the House needs to pass their version and then the two have to be conferenced and then signed by the President. I think the short time between now and the end of the...

Farm Broadcasters Annual Convention

John Block — 2012-11-08T13:28:47+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— I’m talking to you by phone from Kansas City where the Farm Broadcasters Annual Convention is in progress. Yesterday, I was privileged to have been part of their featured Newsmaker Session with Secretary Clayton Yeutter and Secretary Bob Bergland. We each spoke and took questions. Today, I want to give you an idea of what was said. Needless to say, this week’s election got a lot of attention. Let me give you my reaction. Yes, I was disappointed. After more than a billion dollars was spent on attack ads, after all of the debates, after almost a year of TALK, TALK, TALK, the public voted and nothing changed. We have the same President for 4 more years. We still have a Democrat Senate...

HSUS on the Offensive

John Block — 2012-11-01T07:15:40+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— The pig auditors are on the way. Get ready for them. Yes, it’s a fact. A week ago, I received a letter from Tyson Foods stating that they will be coming to my farm to perform an audit to see how we raise and care for our pigs. We do sell most of our market hogs to Tysons, but an audit? I’ve never heard of such a thing. They intend to audit all of their major suppliers. I guess they have that right, if I want to continue to sell them pigs. The pressure from the animal rights organizations is powerful. We have food companies of all kinds bowing to their cry. In one respect, I don’t mind the audit. My hogs are happy and well cared for. We don’t even use gestation crates, which is one of...

Election Predictions

John Block — 2012-10-25T07:09:36+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— We are about 10 days away from the election. Most of the focus has been on the Presidential race. However, let’s not forget that there are 3 branches of government. We have the Executive – that’s the President; we have the legislative – the Congress; and the judicial – our judges. Who ever gets elected as President likely will have a chance to appoint a Supreme Court Justice, assuming one of the current justices should retire over the next 4 years. The President has a lot of power. He can help to shape the court consistent with his philosophy. He can veto legislation coming out of the Congress if he doesn’t like it. Through his leadership, he can help point the country in his...

California’s Preposterous Prop 37

John Block — 2012-10-18T07:01:46+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This is Rick Frank sitting in for John Block. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— On Election Day, California voters will decide on another food labeling ballot initiative, one that is being watched intently by the food industry. If it passes, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, popularly known as Prop 37, would require genetically engineered foods to be prominently labeled as such and prohibit any processed food from being labeled as “natural” even if it is not genetically engineered. As with many ballot initiatives in California, Prop 37 is superficially appealing yet counter-productive from both a policy and economic standpoint. Supporters of Prop 37 rely on the tried-and-true argument of the...

Busy Times

John Block — 2012-10-11T06:56:14+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— It seems like there is a lot going on all around us. We are right in the middle of harvest on the farm – corn and soybeans a little more than half done. I’ll be on the combine next week, weather permitting. Recently, I had the pleasure of joining three other former Secretaries of Agriculture at the University of Nebraska for a lively discussion to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act, which created the land grant college system back in 1862. It was a great evening as Dan Glickman, Clayton Yeutter, Mike Johanns and I took questions from an audience of 1,500. Did we have any absolute answers on ag issues? We certainly questioned whether the “lame duck” Congress would be...

Death Spiral

John Block — 2012-10-04T06:51:21+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— Look at our debt. Sixteen trillion dollars and rising. For every dollar our government spends, we have to borrow 40 cents. Are we in as bad a shape as Greece? No. Not yet, but if we stay on this path, we can get there. Maybe we should look around for some country that has dealt with this kind of a problem successfully. We don’t have to look very far. Look north – Canada. The Canadian debt problem was building over many years dating back to the 1960s. It just kept getting worse. The government was promising more than it could deliver. The markets were losing confidence in Canada. The country was paying more than 7% to borrow the money spent. Something had to be done. In 1993, Prime...

HSUS Attacks

John Block — 2012-09-27T06:51:51+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— I grew up showing pigs at the Knox County 4-H show. The first talk I gave at my 4-H Club when I was 10 years old was: “What I Feed My Pig.” As a pig farmer, I have paid money to the pork industry “check off’ program. That money has helped fund the most successful industry advertising campaign ever. “Pork: The Other White Meat.” I was always very satisfied to know that a tiny amount of my money, when my pigs were sold, would be combined with money from other producers to help the pork industry. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Humane Society of the U.S. files a lawsuit attacking the USDA, the Pork Board, and the national Pork Producers Council. Here is the way it works. USDA...

Serious Problems

John Block — 2012-09-20T06:45:33+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— The first thing I want to put on the table is – “the wolves are back.” After settling our country, farmers, ranchers, and trappers got rid of almost all of the grey wolves. Along came the Endangered Species Act and now we have more than 6,000 wolves preying on our livestock. But finally, after I don’t know how many sheep and calves have been killed, we will be allowed to kill the wolves. A lot of rancher friends of mine are happy about this. Now, let’s look at some other really serious problems that the whole country faces. Radical Islam has gone wild. They killed our Ambassador and three other Americans in Libya. Two British soldiers were killed by gunmen in Afghan...

Flood of Regulations

John Block — 2012-09-13T20:47:55+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— Our farmers, ranchers, and small businesses are about to be drowned in a flood of government regulations. This Administration has put on hold the final rules until after the election. Talk about uncertainty. We don’t know if they can be stopped or not. High on the list of concerns is the EPA push to remove the word “navigable” from the Clean Water Act. If they get that done, they will have the authority to regulate every ditch, every little farm pond, everything that has anything to do with water. Don’t even think about straightening out that crooked creek. You will have to get permission to tile that wet field. Another regulation that is ready to ambush us is to outlaw junk food...

PNTR for Russia

John Block — 2012-09-06T12:34:12+00:00

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary— Russia was welcomed into the World Trade Organization last month. That was a very important step which will require Russia to live by predictable and reasonable and enforceable trading rules. It should be celebrated as a big day for the U.S. because more exports will mean more jobs. However, we don’t qualify to receive these advantages because we have in place an antiquated law dating back to the 1970s – the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. That law restricts U.S. trade with countries that limit immigration rights. We were trying at that time to help thousands of Jews leave the Soviet Union. The time is well overdue to throw out that ancient, irrelevant law and extend permanent, normal trading...