D.C. Fly-In, Part One: The Legislative Experience

I have a lot of photos and a lot to process and write about our Washington D.C. trip. I'm going to have to break it down into several posts. After going through my photos, I think the best way to organize the trip into blog posts is into three segments: Legislative Experience, Tourist Experience, and Art and Design Experience.

I'll start with the Legislative Experience.

But first, let me back up a bit and remind everyone why we came to be in D.C. in the first place!

The D.C. Fly-In was the culmination of our Farmers Union Enterprises (FUE) Leadership Couples training experience that has lasted for about the past 18 months. If you can't remember what FUE or the program we were participating in was all about, check out THIS POST. Basically, we spent the past year or so attending Farmers Union conferences and events and participating in leadership training seminars along with three other couples-- one each from Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Walking in front of the Department of Agriculture building with some of our FUE friends.

The Department of Agriculture is a HUGE building.
I liked that they had corn planted out front! 

The Fly-In itself was National Farmers Union's annual lobbying event in Washington D.C. Farmers Union members and representatives from all 28 states where Farmers Union has a presence were in Washington for the Fly-In. Our group arrived a few days early for about a day and a half of more leadership training and informational meetings. Then, the last two and a half days were dedicated to the legislative process and how it pertains to agriculture and Farmers Union issues. The last day and a half specifically were spent actually meeting with representatives of Congress and the Senate (or their staff!) to advocate directly for issues affecting family farms across the country.

On the in-between-day on the Hill, as I'll call it, we as an entire National Farmers Union group, were addressed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Gina McCarthy, and a woman named Ann Alonzo, who is the head of the Agriculture Marketing Service, as well as by National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson.  President Johnson and his staff outlined the four main issues we'd be discussing in our lobbying efforts the next day before we heard from the other three. I found Secretary Vilsack's remarks to be appropriate and well-thought-out, and I enjoyed hearing him speak most of all. He's great. Administrator McCarthy was an engaging speaker as well.

NFU President Roger Johnson

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

Administrator McCarthy of the EPA

Ann Alonzo of the USDA

Moving on to the actual lobbying experience. Everyone with Farmers Union who was present for the Fly-In was divided into teams of 5 or so people, with each team assigned to several Senate/Congressional offices. We were to visit the offices and speak to the government official (or their staff) about our key issues, or drop off an informational hand-out if no one was available to meet with us.

We became very familiar with the Congress and Senate office buildings.

Jeff and I were in a small group with three other people from Montana including the Montana Farmers Union President, another Montana Farmers Union member from Great Falls, and a member of the Montana press (who was not a member of Farmers Union, just there to cover the story of our time in Washington.) We ended up visiting the offices of five different individuals-- a mix of Representatives and Senators. Of those five offices, the only time we met with an actual government official was when we visited the office of Senator Walsh of Montana. The rest of the time we spoke with office staff, usually the staffer responsible for Agriculture issues.

Jeff and I in the rotunda of the Longworth office building.

The issues we spoke about were identified and decided upon by the National Farmers Union board and included:

• COOL (Country of Origin Labeling)-- NFU is for keeping COOL laws as-is.
• RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard)-- NFU Is for maintaining status quo with RFS.
• TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership)-- NFU is skeptical of TPP in its current form.
• Rail Issues-- NFU is advocating on behalf of farmers for increased rail traffic for grain and for increased oversight from the STB (Surface Transportation Board) on the railroad. 

Throughout the process of meeting with the various offices and staff, and the Senator, it became apparent that Jeff has a real gift for leadership in these types of situations. He was very well-spoken and seemed really comfortable discussing the issues with anyone. As for myself, I was a little out of my comfort level, but with practice got better. I think my future with Farmers Union probably will not involve extensive lobbying in that form. Jeff rocked it though. 

Senate Hart Office Building.
Montana Senators Tester and Walsh both have their offices here.

Since we had a member of the local Montana Ag media in our group, Jeff and I did give a brief interview that was included in a few radio spots. Jeff was also interviewed by another person of the media and that story was released right after we got back. Hopefully everyone is happy with how we both answered our questions! I was a little nervous for the interview I did, even though it was brief! Did anyone catch any of our radio spots or the print interview anywhere?

One of the highlights for the business-side of the trip for me was attending the Golden Triangle Awards Ceremony on Tuesday evening of our trip. The Golden Triangle Awards are given by National Farmers Union to government officials who have done well to serve the Ag community in the past year. Many of the awards were handed out in person at the event. This meant we had a very front row view of many members of Congress and the Senate as they stopped by the party to receive their awards. I was most impressed with Nancy Pelosi (California), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota), and of course, John Tester (Montana), our friend and neighbor. Jeff and I were also impressed with John Walsh (Montana) for the fact that he stayed at the party after giving his short acceptance speech and actually took some time to visit with people in the audience-- no one else had done that. Politics aside, he seemed like a nice and genuine man in-person.

Nancy Pelosi receives her Golden Triangle service award from NFU President Roger Johnson.

Sherrod Brown of Ohio about to receive his award.

Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota addresses the group.

There's so much more detail I could write about this trip and specifically about the legislative experience we had. I truly learned A LOT in-person about how government works. It was cool to be actively participating in democracy, advocating for family farms, and attempting to let our voices be heard. Even if I don't have a future in lobbying in this form, it was definitely worth the experience on many, many levels. I think Jeff and I both realized the potential for leadership that we have within this organization, which is overall, the ultimate goal of the entire experience.

Will either of us have a future in politics?!