Press Releases
Arrington Defends the American Farmer
Washington DC,
June 30, 2021
|
Reilly Knecht
(806-252-6133)
Tags:
Agriculture
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 30, 2021 Arrington Defends the American Farmer WASHINGTON, DC— Yesterday, Ways and Means Member Congressman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) joined his Republican colleagues for a meeting on Stepped-Up Basis and defended family-owned farms and businesses from Biden’s crushing tax hikes. Click here or the image below for full remarks:
Key excerpts: “This is the heart and soul of my district and yours—that’s family farmers. I’m proud to have a witness from the food, fuel, and fiber capital of the world in Pat McDowell, but I thank the witnesses for their insights. There’s nothing good about the tax-and-spend plan that has been proposed by this administration and our Democrat colleagues. It’s been made mention what the money is really going to be spent on. And it’s not infrastructure. It’s not COVID. It’s not recovery. It’s a progressive vision of a government controlling its people and its natural resources, quite frankly.” “I am reminded that farmers and ranchers, along with all small businesses, have been paying property tax and sales taxes, income taxes, and every other kind of taxes, which makes the death tax—to me—the most unfair and un-American tax in the tax code. We have the [fourth] highest death tax in the world and now, the Democrats want to super-charge it. It will be the most devastating of all the proposals.” “As I told Secretary Yellen, it will be the largest scale fire sale of family-owned farm equipment and farming operations across this nation—the likes of which we have never seen. Folks like Ms. Yellen, I do respect and appreciate her service, and others in Washington that have no clue about the risk that our producers take every day: in the volatility of weather and pricing, the rise of input costs, the significant reduction of farming income across the nation, which has put us in a very tenuous position to maintain the family farm and ranch.” “We have seen bankruptcies skyrocket. We have even seen, sadly, farming and ranching have the highest suicide rates of any sector in our economy. My question to you Pat, since agriculture is not only the lifeblood of our economy in West Texas, but also part of our ethos as Americans. It is our identity in rural America. It is our heritage. It goes back to our first colony and even with the cash to underwrite, the revolution that gave us our very independence. With all of this, our food security, our ag independence feeding the world, meeting the global demand, what does this do to the psyche of the younger farmer, your children, and grandchildren? What does this do to their sprit as they look over the horizon and say, “Will I be able to do what I always dreamed of doing to carry out the family-owned ag operations?” Speak to that, not the dollars and cents, but the human mental health and spiritual toll that it’s going to take on our next generation of farmers.” ### Congressman Jodey Arrington is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives serving the Nineteenth Congressional District of Texas. He serves as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. |
