MITCHELL, S.D. - With no congressional debates at Dakotafest in 2016, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jay Williams took the stage Thursday to respond to the comments made one day prior by his opponent, U.S. Sen. John Thune.
Williams, of Yankton, spent 30 minutes speaking to a crowd of about 20 people on the Dakotafest grounds in Mitchell about the same agriculture-related issues Thune discussed Wednesday.
Although Williams is correct that debates are traditionally held at Dakotafest, he will get at least one opportunity to debate Thune. According to Thune's campaign manager, the campaign has accepted an invitation to debate Williams on South Dakota Public Broadcasting in October.
Since Williams will have to wait until October for a head-to-head battle against Thune, he used Thursday's forum to question the two-term incumbent's stances on ag issues.
Williams kicked off his rebuttal with a discussion of the Agriculture Act of 2014. The previous day, Thune spoke of the importance of the act, commonly known as the Farm Bill, for South Dakota farmers, but Williams highlighted the fact that 23 other Republicans voted against the act in 2014.
ADVERTISEMENT
While Thune voted in support of the Farm Bill, Williams suggested growers and producers in South Dakota cannot count on the support of Republicans to promote a revised version of the bill once it expires. The bill establishes crop insurance and disaster relief programs widely used by farmers nationwide.
"I submit if in this election we elect a Republican for presidency and if we send back a Republican Congress, there's a really good chance we won't have a Farm Bill," Williams said. "And if we don't have a Farm Bill, we won't have family farmers."
The Democratic political newcomer also called to question Thune's statement that regulations are negatively impacting American families and farmers.
Williams said the same regulations Thune spoke ill of Wednesday were regulations Thune voted to pass. According to Williams, any law supported by a senator is a form of federal regulation.
He then blamed the GOP for failing to push for progress on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement proposed between the United States and 11 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Williams agreed with Thune, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds and U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem that the TPP would be beneficial for the state's farmers who export goods overseas, but wondered why the agreement isn't law if it's supported by the Republican-led Congress and President Barack Obama.
"If President Obama negotiated the TPP and he's way, way in favor of it, and the Republicans control Congress and they're in favor of it, why isn't it law?" Williams said. "You have to ask yourself that, and the reason - I submit the reason is - is because the Republicans decided that they would do nothing to support what President Obama wanted to do."
After spending his 30-minute forum responding to Thune's statements, Democratic U.S. House of Representatives candidate Paula Hawks spent 30 minutes answering questions from the small crowd. Hawks, a state representative from Hartford, wanted to know which agriculture-related issues were concerning to them.
One question came on behalf of Scott VanderWal, president of the South Dakota Farm Bureau. VanderWal said many South Dakota farmers have dealt with rising health care costs since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and he asked Hawks how she would address the rising costs that he called a concern for every farm family in the state.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hawks said the ACA, often referred to as Obamacare, is working to bring health costs down, but said there are likely some tweaks that could be made to the program.
Those changes could include negotiating with pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug costs, Hawks said.
But Hawks said solving any issues of rising health costs concerning VanderWal could also be addressed by working together with South Dakota farmers to find solutions.
"There are absolutely some changes and some tweaks that need to be made, and that requires the input of the people who are affected by it," Hawks said.
And Hawks, who grew up on a family farm near Flandreau, has one other goal in mind to improve life for farmers in her home state through the 2018 Farm Bill.
"I think that that process needs to be carefully examined, and that's where it becomes incredibly important for South Dakota to have a voice at the table," Hawks said. "We need to have representation on that Ag Committee so that that Farm Bill is a constant priority."
Currently, Noem does not sit on the House Committee on Agriculture.
Like Williams and Thune, Hawks and Noem will debate in October on SDPB.
