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House floor.
• Several hundred people gathered inside a packed tent and spilled out onto the outskirts at the Dakotafest farm show in Mitchell to hear the candidates spar mostly on agriculture issues during their first debate.
• In July, the House Agriculture Committee, of which Noem is a member, approved a new five-year farm bill that would eliminate much-criticized direct payments, under which farmers are paid even when they don't plant a crop, to be replaced with new price and revenue support programs. The Senate passed companion legislation in June. But the bill has yet to make it to the House floor, and Congress is currently on a five-week recess.
• Varilek said House members need to move away from the "my way or the highway" attitude that causes such gridlock and work together. He said Noem should be doing more to pressure leadership to bring the bill to the floor.
• "Not only have they not passed a farm bill, they haven't even voted on a farm bill," Varilek said of the chamber to which he's seeking office.
• Noem said she's been working hard to gather votes and work with House leaders.
• Varilek said he prefers the Senate version of the farm bill, which has safety net provisions for commodity growers that are more favorable to corn and bean growers. He said the House version is tilted toward peanut and rice producers.
• Noem said she likes the commodity title in the Senate version better than her chamber's product, but she dislikes how the Senate bill ties crop insurance to conservation compliance.
• "We don't want to start down that path," she said. "That's the only safety net that our farmers have to depend on when they're in volatile situations like the drought (Continued on page 17)
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