Congressional delegation airs problems and prospects
By Fred Knapp 
, Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
Aug. 29, 2024, midnight ·
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Nebraska’s U.S. senators and congressmen touched on a variety of problems and prospects Thursday in their annual Chamber of Commerce-sponsored presentation at the SAC museum near Ashland.
Speaking to an audience of hundreds in a hanger flanked by historic warplanes, members of the congressional delegation answered questions and highlighted concerns. Sen. Deb Fischer said the upcoming Farm Bill, which she expects to be delayed until next year, must focus on programs like crop insurance that support farmers, even though the bulk of the spending goes elsewhere.
“Out of a $1.5 trillion farm bill, the SNAP program has $1.3 trillion,” Fischer said.
First District Rep. Mike Flood said after some good years, farmers are facing tougher times.
“We're heading into kind of a dark time," he said. "Corn yesterday was at $3.61 a bushel… and anything under $4 on corn means the producer is losing money."
Sen. Pete Ricketts cautioned about the nation’s finances.
“The fastest growing part of our budget is interest on the debt," he said. "It's the second biggest thing we spend money on, more than defense, Medicare, Medicaid, any of that. The only thing we spend more money on is Social Security. We've got to get this reined in and under control."
Third District Rep. Adrian Smith made it clear how he doesn’t want to try and raise money to reduce the debt.
“Now there's chatter about dialing up the corporate tax rate," he said. "Now, if all you do is dial up the tax rate a few points, that's not just undoing what we did in 2017 because there were other provisions that we did to flatten the code there, but we need to be competitive."
And Second District Rep. Don Bacon highlighted what he said is the need to deter Russia by stationing more troops in eastern Europe.
“We need to have a division size NATO force there, not American Force only," Bacon said. "We have some elements there, but you combine it with other countries, we need about a division in the Baltics and about a division in Poland."