New congressman meets with local farmers

Reporter - Vikki Broughton Hodges

U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson stopped in Linwood on Wednesday afternoon as part of his 8th Congressional District Farm Tour to update local farm bureaus on the Farm Bill as well as get farmers' feedback on issues important to them, such as immigration reform and the elimination of estate taxes.

The freshman Republican congressman from Concord, who was recently appointed to the House Committee on Agriculture, made nine stops in the district from Monday through Wednesday. At each stop, his staff collected contact information from the farmers, who he said will serve as his informal agriculture advisory board.

“I want to be able to call on you and I want you to be able to call on me, too,” Hudson said, noting he promised during his campaign to be more visible in the district and get appointed to the House Agriculture Committee. He serves on the subcommittees for general farm commodities and risk management, including oversight of crop insurance, as well as livestock, rural development and credit.

The grandson of a tobacco farmer, Hudson said an important part of the Farm Bill concerns crop insurance. “We want to make sure we keep that safety net,” he told the approximately 30 farmers gathered at the Linwood Fire Department.

Hudson said he is also concerned about keeping young people in agriculture and helping preserve a way of life in rural America. One farmer at the meeting said estate taxes are forcing more families to get out of farming because those who inherit the property are increasingly forced to sell the land to pay taxes. George Smith, president of the Davidson County Farm Bureau, noted that the average age of the American farmer is 57 and very few people under 40 remain in the business.

“This issue has come up at every meeting on this tour,” Hudson said of estate taxes. “The death tax or inheritance tax is the most immoral tax there is. I'm going to do everything I can to eliminate it completely.”

Immigration reform was also the subject of several farmers' questions to the congressman with many noting that immigrants are a crucial part of their workforce. One farmer said Hispanic workers are willing to work hard and do jobs he couldn't find others to do so he wants them to be able to find a path to citizenship. “There are some great people who live in the shadows,” he noted.

“I'm really encouraged by the bipartisan support for immigration reform — I feel like there's a lot of momentum on that,” Hudson said, noting there will likely be a separate program addressing farm workers. He said the reform under discussion is still evolving but he wants to make sure it includes infrastructure to track people in the immigration system and also secure U.S. borders. He also said visas should not be based on a lottery but on need, such as whether farm workers or doctors are needed in the U.S. economy.

In response to other questions about stricter gun control laws in light of several mass shootings, most recently the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Hudson, a National Rifle Association member, said he doesn't favor new gun laws. He said gun violence has actually gone down since a national ban on assault weapons expired in 2004.

But before any other issues can be addressed, Congress has to deal with the national debt problem, Hudson said. Not only is the debt a national security problem, he said, but “we are literally mortgaging the lives of future generations.” He said spending cuts are going to have to be made and programs such as Social Security and Medicare need to be reformed. As a freshman, Hudson said he has made a concerted effort to meet with Democrats as well as Republicans to talk about ways to make spending cuts and balance the budget because it will take a bipartisan effort to move beyond gridlock.

Hudson also said he would follow through on a campaign promise to introduce a sunset law that would put an expiration date on all federal programs that are found not to be working or duplicating other programs in order to cut waste.

“It would force Congress to do some oversight,” he said. “As Ronald Reagan once said, ‘There's nothing more permanent than a temporary government program.' The Washington bureaucracy is so big it's like trying to turn an aircraft carrier with a canoe paddle.”