Last week, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) questioned Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing.
During the hearing, Tuberville blamed President Joe Biden for “skyrocketing” costs in Alabama and across the country.
“Alabama’s hardworking farmers and producers continue to face uphill battles,” Tuberville said. “As they work to feed our great nation, constant roadblocks and government overreach are creating challenging environments for my constituents.”
The senator explained how inflation had only gotten worse under the Biden administration.
“Since President Biden took office in 2021,” he continued, “inflation has caused prices in Alabama to increase over 10%. In April, Alabamians were paying $478 more each month for everyday expenses. It is more expensive for everyone to feed their families, fuel their cars, power their homes. This is not sustainable.”
Tuberville then said Vilsack needed to find ways to help lower the rising costs.
“Secretary, I call on you to be a partner,” he said, “to help relieve the regulatory, inflationary burdens on our farmers, so they can do what they do best; feed the world.”
The senator then expressed concern over the president failing to act on the issue of inflation, especially when it comes to the increased burden on farmers.
“Now as we seek to begin farm bill discussions in the coming months,” he said, “it seems that the Biden administration is only focused two areas of the comprehensive package; nutrition and conservation. While these farm bill titles are important, so are the tradition farm programs like crop insurance, farm commodity programs that help our producers safely manage risk.”
Tuberville concluded that we needed to show more appreciation to our country’s farming community.
“[W]e need to acknowledge and thank our farmers and foresters who have worked for generations and continue to work hard to voluntarily implement practices of sustainability and conservation on their land as they see fit,” he advised.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
