National Rural Advocacy Group Says
Cubin ‘Hanging Wyoming Out to Dry’
WASHINGTON – By failing to sign a discharge petition that would require a vote on agriculture disaster assistance in the House of Representatives, Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., is “hanging Wyoming farmers out to dry,” according to My Rural America, a non-partisan educational organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in rural communities.
“Wyoming’s only representative has stood on the sidelines while her Republican friends have blocked drought relief, despite having told us she would ‘use some political capital’ to help farmers in her own state," said Aaron R. Owens, Rural Leadership Coordinator for My Rural America.
Owens, who lives in Laramie, said that only two Republicans – neither of them Rep. Cubin – have signed the petition that needs 218 signatures to force Congress to move agriculture disaster assistance legislation forward. “It is a classic case of Cubin telling her constituents and the press one thing in Wyoming but acting in another way when she is in Washington,” said Owens.
Owens noted that 197 Members of Congress have united behind the effort to force a vote last month before the House of Representatives recessed until after the November elections. Despite the urging of more than 30 farm and allied organizations that encouraged all members of Congress to sign the discharge petition, the House Republican leadership prevailed when most GOP members with agricultural constituencies, including Cubin, declined to do so.
Larry Mitchell, CEO of the American Corn Growers and Policy Advisor to My Rural America, agrees. “No state has been impacted more by the drought disaster these past two years than Wyoming. During all the years my family and I farmed, it was traditional that farm state representatives would unite in a bipartisan effort to bring relief to those whose livelihoods were imperiled,” continued Mitchell. “But not this year, not this Congress, and apparently not Rep. Cubin, who has allowed partisanship to prevail over the needs of her state’s farm and ranch families.”
Owens, who is organizing rural citizens in Wyoming to support policies which serve the health and economic needs of rural communities, said that “people deserve to know when our representatives in Washington fail to keep their promises. Rep. Cubin apparently wasn’t willing to challenge her party’s leaders who have repeatedly refused to permit a discussion or vote to occur.”
In addition to providing useful information about rural issues and public policy, My Rural America operates an on-line community through its website, www.myruralamerica.org. Both the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) drought monitor map and a list of US Representatives who have not signed can be found on the site. Owens said that 21 more signatures are necessary if the discharge petition is to succeed.
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