By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R) from Kentucky named Alabama Congressman Robert Aderholt (R) from Haleyville as the Chairman of Agriculture Subcommittee for the House Committee on Appropriations.
Congressman Robert Aderholt released a written statement after the appointment by Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers. Rep. Aderholt said,
“It is a privilege to have been selected to serve as Chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee. A number of challenges lay ahead for this Subcommittee in the coming year: from the lack of a long-term Farm Bill, too much needed FDA oversight, to the challenges the Commodities Future Trading Board faces with the uncertainty of newly implemented laws and regulations imposed by Administration, it is clear we should have a pretty busy year. Having brought critical oversight and an eight percent reduction to the Department of Homeland Security’s budget in the last few years, I am up to the challenge and am honored that Chairman Rogers has placed the confidence in me to bring common-sense reform and oversight to the Agriculture Subcommittee.”
Chairman Rogers said, “Chairman Aderholt is an essential and hardworking member of our Committee, not shying away from holding federal agencies accountable for their spending and making smart decisions on the investment of precious tax dollars. I look forward to continuing working with him over the next two years.” said Chairman Hal Rogers.
Aderholt was the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security Aderholt for the House Appropriations Committee during the 112th Congress.
Agriculture is going to be an especially challenging area in the 113th Congress because a new long term farm bill was not passed in the 112th Congress. On Monday, the House passed a new five year farm bill, but in the Senate that was rejected in the Biden-McConnell Fiscal Cliff Bill. The fiscal cliff deal, which was passed into law by the Senate on Monday and approved by the House on Tuesday, included a simple nine month barebones extension of the 2008 farm bill.
An Angry Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D) from Michigan said after learning the news that the new farm bill would not be part of the fiscal cliff deal: “There is no way to explain this. None. There is absolutely no way to explain this other than agriculture is just not a priority.”
The 113th Congress is going to have to deal with the sequestration crisis in 60 days and whether or not to reduce the deficit as part of a condition for raising the debt ceiling in March. Both of those issues will impact the new long-term farm bill. Congress will have to decide whether to extend the 2008 farm bill to 2014, pass some version of the 2012 farm bill, or start over on the farm bill from scratch and send it back to Committee.
Congressman Robert Aderholt represents Alabama’s Fourth Congressional District.
