July 14, 2022

Dear John:

I hope you and your family are having a great summer so far. I am coming off of a week well spent with folks across the 7th District.

I stopped at Ginny's Café in Winthrop for a great coffee and visit.

During one of my visits, I talked with wheat growers about several issues including how the crop insurance program has been helpful as they recover from the extreme weather we have been having in Minnesota, but that they are worried about new requirements being proposed by my colleagues on the left. For example, the Biden Administration wants to focus on climate priorities, and those kinds of additional regulations and requirements are going to impact farmers’ ability to do their jobs. These regulatory burdens are simply not necessary. Some of these family farms have been here for over 100 years and do everything in their power to make sure they will have workable land for generations to come. They do not need Washington breathing down their necks. I will be working with my colleagues in D.C. to make sure we do not put any unnecessary requirements into farm programs.

I visited the Pederson Brothers farm near Bejou in Mahnomen County with leaders of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers (MAWG). We discussed everything from crop insurance to H-2A ag workers to farm input costs and, of course, how all of these issues will impact next year's Farm Bill. Thanks to Mike Gunderson, MAWG president and member of my Agriculture Advisory Committee, for helping to organize!

Like many, sugar beet farmers have serious concerns about the effects of the supply chain crisis on their industry. We need to fix the current problems, and the U.S. needs to start turning towards increasing domestic production. Thanks to the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative team for the meeting!

Across Western Minnesota and the country, inflation and the supply chain are the primary concerns, both in our personal lives as the price of gas and groceries continue to force people to make hard decisions, and in business. The Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative articulated this point very clearly in our meeting. On this front, the House is making some progress. Last month, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act was signed into law. Many of the adopted amendments include key provisions from my SHIP IT Act, which I introduced in March of this year. These provisions include authorizing the Coast Guard to expedite certain documents required to work at major ports, provisions supporting the usage of inland port infrastructure, and requiring a report that details the technological competitiveness of U.S. ports compared with its peer nations. People across the country are struggling with supply chain issues and there is no end in sight, which is contributing to the record inflation we are facing. My provisions included in this bill will help ease tensions and get goods onto shelves.

Thank you to this family-owned, women-led business for having me! Businesses like The Country Drive In are so important to rural communities but they are being severely impacted by the supply chain and inflation. Solving America's inflation crisis needs to be THE priority.

Visits like the ones I had this week are great opportunities for me to hear directly from my constituents about how their operations are going, and what I can do to help at a federal level. In general, what I hear across the district, is that the federal government would best serve by staying out of the way. I could not agree more.

Providers like Renville Health Services are so important, but like so many they are struggling to keep quality employees on staff and to keep up with unnecessary government regulations. We need to make sure our long-term care facility workers are able to do the job they've been called to do.

Thank you, Heartland Corn Products for the tour of your Winthrop facility and the great discussion on renewable fuels. Year-round E15 and other renewable fuels solutions need to be part of our energy, climate, and environmental policy discussions.