Feltz family hosts Wisconsin congressional representative

STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Wisconsin Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden spent time in his district during a legislative break, visiting Feltz Family Farm near Stevens Point, May 28, telling constituents he is optimistic for positive outcomes from Washington for Wisconsin farmers.

“We do not want a trade war with Canada, the EU, Mexico or China, but our farmers are going to start being treated properly,” Van Orden said. “If you sign up to an agreement, you’re going to follow it and make your markets available to our ag products, period. That’s the whole point of these tariffs, to make sure our farmers, manufacturers and everyone else are treated fairly.”

The Feltz family operates a 650-cow robotic dairy farm and adjacent farm store in Portage County.

Van Orden said he believes most trade issues will be wrapped up by the end of July, primarily through a series of bilateral agreements with countries seeking to normalize trade relations with the U.S.

“Then we can return some stability,” Van Orden said. “What is killing everyone right now is they’re not quite certain of what is going on. Is now the best time to make huge capital investments? No — I’d wait and see how things pan out. For decades our American industries and agriculture have been treated unfairly in trade. That needs to stop.”

President Trump’s reconciliation bill, known as the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, includes provisions for some key agricultural issues, Van Orden said.

“We got rid of the death tax in the reconciliation bill,” Van Orden said. “That is one of the reasons we lose farms. When you have to fork over 30% of the value of your farm to the government, your farm is closing, and it’s not opening again.”

Van Orden said he believes the bill lays the foundation to eliminate waste and abuse in government programs,.

“The Big, Beautiful Bill made some people happy and others mad, so we’re probably in the right spot,” Van Orden said. “If you’re an American citizen, lawfully receiving benefits, there will not be any cuts to your Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, (Women, Infants and Children), (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or veterans benefits.”

In the bill, states would be required to cost-share SNAP benefits, at levels based on the program administration error rate of each state.

At 4.74%, Wisconsin has one of the lowest error rates in the country, Van Orden said, providing him with footing to fight for a reduced cost-share rate for the state, from 25% across the board to 5%.

“No way were they going to drop this huge tax on the state of Wisconsin,” Van Orden said. “The better each state administers their program, the lower their cost-share with the federal government will be.”

With the reconciliation bill through the House, Van Orden said he wants to turn the attention of his colleagues back to getting a farm bill passed, noting that an extension was signed keeping the status quo from the 2018 farm bill, through September.

Highlights in the farm bill include things like increased funding for livestock biosecurity and agricultural research, Van Orden said, along with crop insurance, re-opening of base acreage and conservation provisions. The bill provides for improvements to the Dairy Margin Coverage program, including an increase in the Tier 1 coverage cap from 5 million to 6 million pounds of milk.

“There are a lot of good things in this bill as far as ag goes,” Van Orden said. “The rest, we just have to knuckle down and finish it.”

Van Orden is working with colleagues to develop another generation of immigration reform. The labor bill, which Van Orden said will not serve as a pathway to citizenship, will begin addressing the ag sector before moving into the ag-adjacent sector.

“We want to bring these people out of the shadows and send the message to the world that if you’re going to come to this country to work, you need to do so legally,” Van Orden said. “They need to leave the country for a period of time; then they can come back to work — with a worker identification number, paying taxes legally. If they want to pursue citizenship, the day they come back legally is their start date to begin the process of applying for citizenship.”

Other pro-dairy legislation is gaining steam in both chambers, Van Orden said.

“We’re going full-court press with Whole Milk for Healthy Kids,” Van Orden said. “That is a game-changer for the dairy industry, getting whole and 2% milk and other dairy products back into the schools, into the hands of our kids.”

Van Orden said now is the time to take action to benefit America’s farmers.

“Ag is the one industry that should touch every American, at least twice a day,” Van Orden said. “We can always seem to find enough money to buy another missile, but we can’t seem to find enough to make sure ag can remain vibrant and our farmers don’t have to worry about paying their bills. … We know that when our farmers compete on a level playing field, they win.”