Pryor Punches Cotton On Farm Bill Vote

Drawing a distinction on a major state economic issue, Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor held a press conference Saturday at the state capitol to tout his support for a compromise Farm Bill passed by the U.S. House that was opposed by his Republican challenger, Rep. Tom Cotton.

The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the House-passed agriculture measure this week, and Pryor said he plans to support it.

“You have to find common ground, and you have to do right by the people that you represent,” Pryor said. “My opponent, however, does not share that view. His is a ‘my-way-or-the-highway’ approach. He was the only member of the Arkansas delegation to vote against this bill. In fact, he was the only member of the House from the mid-south to vote against it. And that is something that is very telling.”

Cotton defended his position in post-vote comments and a Republican gathering in Hot Springs on Friday night. He said the $960 billion Farm Bill contained too much wasteful spending.

“Look, I listened to Arkansas farmers. About two-thirds of them are cattleman, poultry producers, swine producers, they opposed this legislation in large part because it poses unfair regulations and trade barriers on them. It’s going to hurt a lot of crop producers, as well, when Canada and Mexico retaliate against us,” said Cotton. “But generally, as I learned growing up on a farm in Yell County, farmers know you can’t keep spending more money than you take in. This legislation spends nearly a trillion dollars and Arkansas farmers only get one-half of one percent benefit from that, in part because it’s 80% food stamps.”

Cotton said training programs and other programs should be requirements for anyone receiving nutritional assistance through programs like SNAP.

At Pryor’s event on Saturday, he was joined by three Arkansas farmers, Harvey Joe Sanner of Des Arc, Andrew Wargo of Watson, and Abraham Carpenter of Grady. They were critical of Cotton’s vote.

Wargo, who farms cotton, rice, soybean, timber and catfish on 15,000 acres in southeast Arkansas said, “A vote against the farm bill is a vote against the people of Arkansas. What scares me most is how close we came to not having a farm bill. To you non-farm folk, the first thing that would happen is milk would go to about $8 a gallon in less than a month. And similar effects would be seen in our food supply.”

Pryor added, “There is no single piece of legislation that is more important to Arkansas’ economy than the farm bill. It drives our state’s economy.”