Take Action! It's time to reach out to members of the Ag Committees on the Farm Bill.

In February 2023 LWV US joined nearly 650 other organizations in signing onto a letter to House and Senate agriculture committee leadership.  This letter urged Congress to protect the historic additional $19.5 billion investment in climate-smart agriculture and conservation technical assistance that was part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).  Read the letter here. 

Over the past few years, Congress has cut funding for conservation programs for which demand has long out-stripped supply; the one-time funding in the IRA helped to fill the gap.  The IRA funds are to supplement conservation funding in the Farm Bill, not replace it!

Tell Congressional legislators in your state that our farmers and ranchers need to have climate-smart agriculture conservation programs and technical assistance for those conservation programs fully funded by the 2023 Farm Bill.  Farmers rely on these Farm Bill conservation programs to help them make their farms more resilient and productive.  But these programs can only help farmers if they are funded.

Act now and amplify the LWVUS message to the House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry!

Tell our members of the Congressional ag committees what needs to happen to build a better Farm Bill 2023!  Use the sample letter and talking points below to craft your message.  

farm_bill_sample_letter_sept_2023.docx
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farm_bill_talking_points.docx
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us_ag_committees_phone_e-mails_nov_2023.pdf
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The sample letter and talking points are in Word docx format above.  If you prefer working from a .pdf, these are included at the bottom of this post.    The third document - the list of ag committee members -  is in .pdf format; their names in the list there link to their websites.  

Members of Congressional Ag Committees in LWV UMRR states

​House Committee on Agriculture
​
Republican committee members:                                    

• Mike Bost – Illinois 12th district       
• Randy Feenstra – Iowa 4th district             
• Mary Miller – Illinois 15th district     
• Brad Finstad – Minnesota 1st  district 
•  Zach Nunn – Iowa 3rd district
• Derrick Van Orden – Wisconsin 3rd district
• Mark Alford - Missouri 4th district
  

 
Democrat committee members:

• Nikki Budzinski – Illinois 13th district
• Eric Sorensen – Illinois 17th district
• Jonathan Jackson – Illinois 1st district
• Angie Craig – Minnesota 2nd district

Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry
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Republican committee members: 

• Joni Ernst – Iowa    
• Charles Grassley – Iowa     

 
Democrat committee members

• Amy Klobuchar – Minnesota
• Tina Smith – Minnesota
• Richard Durbin - Illinois  

​Contact info for these members is in the third document provided to the left.  

Please let us know when you have contacted one of these House or Senate members - fill in this quick form at this link.  We are especially interested in any responses you receive - there's a line on that form for summarizing any response or you can attach a file if that would work.  When you complete the form you will get a copy of your response.  Thank you!  

Also, thank you to everyone who attended the US Farm Bill 2023 webinar by Duane Hovorka, Senior Policy Specialist, National Wildlife Federation that LWV Upper Mississippi River Region hosted on August 7.  In case you missed it, view the recording here.

farm_bill_sample_letter_sept_2023.pdf
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farm_bill_talking_points.pdf
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