Kevin Cramer Invites the ‘Grim Reaper’ of the Farm Bill to ND

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 27, 2013

Kevin Cramer Invites the ‘Grim Reaper’ of the Farm Bill to North Dakota

Cramer to Host House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor in Williston

(BISMARCK, ND) – Congressman Kevin Cramer will be holding a public meeting Wednesday morning in Williston with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia. North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party Chairman Bob Valeu released the following statement regarding the Cramer-Cantor partnership and how it has failed North Dakota’s farmers and ranchers:

“Kevin Cramer has been in Congress for eight months and has nothing to show for it—other than numerous complaints from constituents that he’s not responding to their calls and letters. Many of those constituents have been North Dakota farmers and ranchers urging Cramer to stand up to his party and pass a Farm Bill. Rather than listening to them, Cramer has instead invited the Farm Bill’s grim reaper, Eric Cantor, to our state.

“If you dusted the knife that gutted the Farm Bill for prints, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s fingerprints would be all over it. Cramer inviting the man most responsible for gutting the Farm Bill to North Dakota just further proves just how out of touch he is with the needs of our citizens. It seems like the only thing Kevin Cramer knows about farms is that most farms have a dog that always runs after the truck. Cramer is a lot like that farm dog. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress three times before he finally got to Congress last year. Now he’s like that farm dog who finally caught up to the truck. He was chasing it for so long that he didn’t have any idea what he would do when he caught it.

“The only thing that Kevin Cramer has to show for his time in Congress is that he has caved to Eric Cantor time and time again. North Dakotans deserve better.”

BACKGROUND:

The U.S. Senate passed the Farm Bill on June 10 with an overwhelming bipartisan margin, 66-27. North Dakota’s U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D) and John Hoeven (R) led the bipartisan fight for the bill. (POLITICO)

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides nutrition assistance to millions of low-income families, children and seniors – including 54,000 North Dakotans. The program has been in each Farm Bill for over 40 years. Eric Cantor and other Tea Party Republicans pushed to cut $20 billion from SNAP. (Farm and Ranch Guide)

More than 500 farm organizations, including the National Farmers Union and the American Farm Bureau opposed the cuts. Twelve House Republicans even voted against the Farm Bill to protest Cantor’s cuts. Kevin Cramer was not among them. Cramer supported the cuts and calls criticism of the cuts “a distraction.” (Agriculture.com)