Problems

September 23, 2021

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary –

The Biden Administration has been telling us that “our borders are not open.” We all know that is
not a true statement. There was a migrant surge on our Mexican border of more than 200,000 in
the month of August. And now with the damaging weather problems in Haiti, a new explosion of
refugees just walked across the Rio Grande River into the US. The small city of Del Rio, Texas
had 15,000 Haitians under a bridge.

Yes- some of them will be deported, but many will not. Others will be allowed to claim asylum in the US. Our laws allow the migrants to be released in the U.S. to work until their asylum claims are heard by our courts. That can take years. They have education for their children and health care.

Countries with poor people, no opportunity, and war – of course they want to come to the US.
They think the door is open. But we need to close it. We can use more people, but we should pick
and choose and bring them in through a legal process. All the talk in Congress is focused on budget,
and funding bills. The turmoil and conflict are just beginning. My priority would be to pass the
bipartisan infrastructure bill. Hurricane Ida just reminded us how much work we have to do. Our
river transportation suffers from locks and dams that need repair. Don’t forget the roads, bridges,
and electricity grid. And broadband is desperately needed in many rural communities. There is no
justifiable reason to also spend an additional $3.5 trillion of our money. That is just too much.

Next up – trade. China wants to join the Transpacific Partnership Trade Agreement which has 11 Pacific Rim countries as members. The U.S. was a member and in fact helped write the agreement when Obama was President. Then, newly elected, President Trump withdrew our memberships. That was a terrible mistake. We don’t want to be on the outside looking in. President Biden should get the U.S. back into that Partnership, and then figure out how to deal with China’s request to join.

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