Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Kind will be retired from Congress officially on Jan. 3, when the new Congress takes session. He’s represented District 3 since 1997. And he’s represented Wisconsin agriculture on the House Ways and Means Committee for over a decade.
Kind tells Mid-West Farm Report what business he’s left on the table: CWD prevention, natural resources protection, and farmer-led conservation dollars. He also predicts what’s to come out of the Biden administration in the president’s second term regarding trade.
Overall, he’s optimistic that bipartisanship can at least exist around the 2023 Farm Bill.
Kind says he’s been in conversations with Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson. In those conversations, he’s gleaned that there’s a focus on safety net programs for producers, strengthening the conservation title that would invest in farmer-led conservation, agricultural research, and rural development and broadband programs.
When it comes to the current trade agenda, Kind says “we’re off the rails,” adding that he’s been pushing the Biden administration to get back in the game and negotiate market access trade agreements. He says the key is to pass trade promotion authority — TPA is a legislative procedure written by Congress that gives guidance to the President on trade policy and negotiating objectives.
“The rest of the world is not waiting for us. They’re moving on. They’re striking these bilateral, multilateral trade agreements without us,” he says. “That’s not good. It further isolates us. It leaves us at a competitive disadvantage.”
Kind says it’s common for an administration to focus on domestic issues in the first half of the term. He expects the Biden administration to move forward on trade in the next two years. And now that the House is Republican led, it may slow down the domestic agenda and be an opportunity to move forward on bipartisan trade policy, he says.
Looking ahead, Kind expects to continue to serve in a different capacity.
“I’ve had some discussions with the White House. There’s a couple of assignments that they may need some help on,” he says. “I’ve had an itch to teach — maybe get into the classroom. I’d certainly love to stay involved in the trade policy arena… in Wisconsin, that there’s a role for me to play on trade policy moving forward. So it’s an exciting time.”
Republican Derrick Van Orden succeeds Kind on Jan. 3.
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