From staff reports Congressman Frank Lucas (OK-03) is back on the House Agricultural Committee.
Lucas won the Republican primary in June and has no opponent in November, which means he will be a part of the next Congress.
“I’m not leaving the Ag Committee again,” he said. “The minority leader at the time who compelled me to step off of one of my three committees is not here anymore. I will be on the Ag Committee until this Farm Bill process is done no matter what.”
The Farm Bill is an comprehensive omnibus piece of legislation that may affect international trade, the environment, the food supply, food safety and the economies of rural America.
Congressman “Lucas has had a hand in writing every Farm Bill since 1996 and served as Chairman of the Committee from 2011 to 2015 crafting the landmark 2014 Farm Bill,” his House website states.
Despite stagnation in passing the most recent Farm Bill, Lucas remains optimistic.
The bill is getting pushback from Democrats who want the SNAP (Sustainable Nutrition Assistance Program) not only to increase over the next five years at a rate to match the cost of inflation, but also to increase other feeding programs by 20 or 30%.
“We have differences of opinion,” Lucas said. “But that’s why the bill needs to come to the floor. To let the whole body work it out.”
He added there will be time for the bill to reach the floor in September, if not, after the general election in November.
“Give me the former president’s Secretary of Ag, Director of the EPA and Secretary of the Treasury,” Lucas said. “If we change the administrations, then we change the bureaucrats and enforcers, and that really needs to happen.
“I want the American public, whatever they decide to do, to give us a clean winner with solid majorities in the House and the Senate,” he said. “This barely balanced government we have built for the last two years has just led to gridlock.”
The 119th U.S. Congress is scheduled to convene on Jan. 3, 2025. A congressional joint session on Jan. 6 will count electoral votes and certify the 2024 presidential election.