By NATE KING
Salina Post
Kansas First District U.S. Congressman Tracey Mann told Salina Post that he is "rolling up his sleeves" to get to work on reauthorizing the Farm Bill, improving transportation and infrastructure, holding China and the Biden administration accountable, IRS funding, and change of House leadership.
Farm bill reauthorization
Mann will continue to serve on the House Agriculture Committee again this year. That's important because this is a Farm Bill year.
Dating back to 1933, the Farm Bill was first authorized following the collapse of the commodities market caused by the Great Depression. The Farm Bill brought stability for food and agriculture producers who suffered devastating losses as a result of the Dust Bowl.
"Our current Farm Bill, these are five-year bills, expires Sept. 30 of this year," Mann said. "Getting that right for agriculture and for rural Kansas will be incredibly important. We'll put a lot of effort and focus there. We have been and we'll continue to do that until we get that done."
The Farm Bill is the single largest financial commitment that the U.S. government makes to U.S. food and agriculture producers, providing nutrition assistance, crop subsidies, crop insurance, rural broadband internet deployment and a range of other programs and initiatives.
Mann said that he hopes a legislative hearing on the Farm Bill is scheduled to take place in Kansas.
"I'm optimistic that we'll be able to have a field hearing in our state," Mann said. "That's not a promise, but that's something I'm working towards. We are not going to like the Farm Bill we get if we don't have ag producers input and stakeholder input in it. It's incredibly important to me and we've been meeting with people and listening to folks."
Congressman Mann is a fifth generation Kansan, who was born and raised on his family farm just south of Quinter. He is also the fifth generation to live in the family farmhouse that his great-great-grandfather ordered from Montgomery Ward catalogue in the early 1900s.
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Small Business Committee
Mann will also serve, for the first time, on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Mann said he is excited to join this committee because of the direct connection infrastructure has with agriculture.
"Agriculture is the biggest driver of our economy. But you also have to have transportation, roads, bridges rail, to get our ag products out of the fields, out of feed yards and into the market," Mann said. "So ag and transportation kind of go together like that. So I'm really excited."
Mann will also serve on the Small Business Committee. The committee has oversight and authority over the Small Business Administration (SBA) and its programs.
"There are 200,000 small businesses all over the district," Mann said. "This is your auto repair shops, your coffee shops, folks that are servicing oil, oil and gas industry. Our farms are also small businesses as well."
Holding China and Biden accountable
After Republicans gained control of the House and selected a speaker, work began on assigning representatives to committees already formed, and the creation of two new select committees. They are, H. Res. 11: Establishing the Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party and H.Res. 12, Establishing a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Mann voted in the affirmative on the creation of both committees.
“The committees’ work will investigate the threats to freedom and democracy in America from both foreign and domestic actors – those in our own government and those overseas. Whether it’s the Chinese Communist Party defrauding America or the FBI or DOJ violating Americans’ rights, these committees will get to the bottom of the wrongdoing and make recommendations to Congress on how to address it. House Republicans are keeping our promise to conduct oversight and fight tyranny in all its forms.”
IRS funding
House Republicans, including Mann, voted on Jan. 9 to defund the IRS tens of billions of dollars allocated to the agency over the next decade through the Inflation Reduction Act, and rescind the request for 87,000 new IRS agents.
"I think that is the last thing we need right now,"Mann said. "An overwhelming majority of folks in the Big First District have told me that they don't want to see the IRS hire 87,000 more agents to go out and really harass and go after good, honest, hard working blue collar folks, which is what that legislation would do."
The legislation aimed at defunding the IRS has little support in the Democrat controlled Senate, and is extremely likely to be vetoed by President Biden.
Mann helped put into perspective the number of IRS agents being requested by the Biden administration.
"The Chiefs are in the playoffs right now- Arrowhead Stadium has a capacity of about 80,000 people," Mann said. "Just think about full Arrowhead Stadium this weekend and add about 7000 to that. What we need to do is cut spending, get serious about balancing our budget to deal with this $32 trillion debt that we've racked up."
Nancy who?
After voting 14 times to elect a speaker to the house of representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy (CA-20) finally secured the necessary votes to seize the gavel from long time political rival, Nancy Pelosi (CA-11).
"The biggest political development in Washington, DC is that Nancy Pelosi is no longer the speaker," Mann said. "The Republicans are in the majority in Congress, which means there are good bills that we can put forward."
During the midterms last year, Republican candidates, including Mann, toured Kansas in a tour bus with the words, "Fire Kelly. Fire Pelosi" printed on the side.
Mann listening tour
From Jan. 17-19 Mann has toured Kansas' first congressional district visiting with Kansans and listening to their thoughts and concerns
"Visiting with Kansans is one of the most important aspects of representing the Big First District in Congress," Mann said. "My team and I make a goal of visiting all 63 counties every year."