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Lucas Pens Op-Ed on Effects of Delay
Free Trade Needs Swift Action
Free Trade Needs Swift Action
June 15, 2010
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Lucas Responds to Oval Office Address
Obama Politicizing Gulf Oil Crisis
Obama Politicizing Gulf Oil Crisis
June 15, 2010
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Will Defend Key House Derivatives Provisions
Lucas Appointed as Conferee
Lucas Appointed as Conferee
June 6, 2010
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Gives Citizens a Voice in Building Agenda
America Speaking Out Launches
America Speaking Out Launches
May 25, 2010
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Discusses Threats to American Agriculture
Lucas Briefs Farm Broadcasters
Lucas Briefs Farm Broadcasters"
May 5, 2010
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Discusses Bipartisan Bill to Prevent Overreach
Lucas: "Send a signal to EPA"
Lucas: "Send a signal to EPA"
April 29, 2010
Press Releases
The Ag Minute: EPA's Overreach Hurts Small Businesses
WASHINGTON – This week during The Ag Minute, guest host Rep. Sam Graves, discusses proposed regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and how they will negatively impact small businesses and rural economies. Rep. Graves is the Ranking Member of the Small Business Committee and a co-chair of the Rural America Solutions Group, which recently hosted a forum to examine the unprecedented, overreaching, and burdensome regulations EPA is trying to impose on farmers, ranchers, and small businesses.
Click here to listen to The Ag Minute. The transcript is below.
"As a small business owner and farmer, I am well aware of the growing mountain of regulations that stand in the way of doing business in rural America. In fact, the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy recently reported that small firms pay nearly $3,000 more per employee than larger firms to comply with government regulations.
"The cost of environmental regulations falls especially heavy on small firms, which pay 364 percent more than large firms to comply. And, this data doesn’t even take into account the tidal wave of regulations to come. The Obama administration and Majority leaders are currently threatening a national energy tax, unprecedented carbon restrictions, and working to dramatically expand the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority over air and water.
Committee Statements
Ranking Member Frank D. Lucas
Committee Statement During Hearing to Review U.S. Agriculture Policy in Advance of the 2012 Farm Bill
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate your continued dedication to this farm bill process. You and I and many members of this Committee set out two weekends ago and traveled across the nation to hear from actual producers about the current farm bill and how they would like to see future farm bills developed. I appreciate your diligence on hearing from so many parts of the agriculture community.
I welcome the witnesses today and await their perspective on how we can better develop farm policy for the 2012 farm bill and look forward to hearing their testimony.
I am especially interested in hearing about the credit situation that our producers are operating under. I worry that the continued excess spending here in Washington will raise interest rates and make the prospect of farming more expensive for our producers.
Floor Statements
The Honorable Frank D. Lucas
House Floor Statement on H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
I thank the Chair. I rise in opposition to H.R. 4173. Regulatory reform of our financial system is needed. However, rather than using this opportunity to enact meaningful reform that creates financial stability and encourages economic growth, the majority has constructed a massive piece of legislation that will restrict credit availability and does little to address the real problems in the financial industry.
In addition to dramatically expanding the power of the Federal Reserve and establishing a “Credit Czar” who will have virtually unlimited authority to restrict consumer choices, this bill will create a permanent bailout slush fund for so-called “too big to fail” companies funded by a $150 billion tax on financial institutions. This tax will reduce available capital for lending and will most certainly be passed down to consumers in the form of higher fees.
As the Ranking Member of the Agriculture Committee, I also rise in opposition to Title III -- the OTC derivatives title -- that is currently in HR 4173. This is the same title that was adopted by the Financial Services Committee.
Video
June 29, 2010: Ranking Member Lucas took to the House floor to defend derivatives end users during debate of financial reform legislation.
Watch Video
Audio
June 23, 2010: In an interview with Ron Hays, Lucas discusses crop insurance, budget issues, ag spending, and cap and trade.
Listen to Audio