Republican roundtable focuses on agriculture

During her annual agriculture tour of Southeast Missouri, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., brought along with her to the Robert Nitsch ranch in Jackson some fellow Republicans who plunged verbal pitchforks into what they say is Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry's record on agriculture.

Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., said Kerry's voting record speaks for itself. Emerson linked Kerry to former Vice President Al Gore.

Emerson said both Gore and Kerry pushed through the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, an international agreement on energy conservation spurred by concern about global warming. That protocol would have raised natural gas prices 79 percent, raised the price of gasoline by 40 cents, and would have given the United Nations the power to levy a 10 percent penalty against U.S. manufacturers and agriculture interests if they didn't comply with the protocol.

"John Kerry and Al Gore worked very hard to make sure the U.S. signed this protocol," Emerson said. "The Kyoto Protocol would have killed the economy of America. When George Bush took office one of his first acts was to pull us out of the Kyoto Protocol, the very best thing that could happen to us."

"[Kerry's] record indicates that he has gone time and time again with the extremists," added Talent. Talent said that he and fellow U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond have both been fighting battles over keeping the Missouri and Mississippi rivers open to navigation.

"Decisions that affect farms are not made in Congress," Talent said. "They are made by regulators and bureaucrats and in the courts. I can guarantee you John Kerry will put people in those positions who are not interested in farmers.

"President Bush understands we can't do anything unless we have jobs, growth and prosperity, and that means agriculture. It just does."

Emerson, Talent and Charlie Kruse, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, all criticized Kerry for voting at least five times against increasing ethanol production and for voting for a 50-cent gas tax, not to raise money to build roads but to force people to consume less gasoline. Kruse noted that Kerry recently visited Iowa and told farmers there he supported the production of ethanol, a corn-based fuel.

"I'm pleased to see he thinks ethanol is important," Kruse said. "His voting record indicates otherwise."

Kruse also criticized Kerry for voting against ending the estate tax. Opponents of the estate tax say that many small family farms are being lost because the heirs have to sell them, instead of keeping the farms for subsequent generations. The tax, Kruse said, is as high as 57 percent of the estate.

"President Bush has made no secret of how important it is to totally eliminate the estate tax," Kruse said.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

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