Presidential Topics Discussed At Farm Foundation Forum

Representatives with Hilary Clinton and Donald Trumps faced off at a Farm Foundation forum in Washington, D.C. earlier this week.  The two discussed tax, trade, regulation and farm bill positions.

The two campaigns agree food stamps need to stay in the farm bill, though the Trump camp argues the goal should be to get people off food stamps with jobs.  And both campaigns argue for a more level playing field in trade deals.  But there were several disagreements.  For the Clinton camp, former Agriculture Department Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, argued it’s time to “chill” on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the US rule.

“I think we just need to tamp down the rhetoric here, I think we need to do a better job working with farmers and ranchers on implementation. And alleviating the anxiety of a ditch that might be covered by Waters of the U.S., in most cases, these are worries that are boggie man worries on the eve of Halloween here.”

Trump campaign co-chair Sam Clovis pushed back on Merrigan’s claim that regulations alone, are “not a bad thing,” and that level the playing field.

“The issue is, isn’t not that it’s anti-regulatory rhetoric that’s at stake here, it’s that we have a burdensome regulatory regime here that imposes itself, particularly on smaller enterprises because they do not have the where withal to be able to be able to find the compliance, the staff to do the other aspects.”

Trump has proposed eliminating WOTUS, which is current being debates in the courts.

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