Noem, Varilek debate farm issues in Mitchell - KOTA Territory News

Republican U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem and Democratic challenger Matt Varilek repeatedly stressed the need for Congress to pass a new farm bill Wednesday while engaging in spirited disagreements on other topics.

Several hundred people stilled outside a packed tent set up at the Dakotafest Farm Show in Mitchell to hear the candidates spar mostly on agriculture issues during their first debate, such as disaster assistance for livestock producers, similar to crop insurance.

"In light of the fact that we don't have a disaster program right now, we're waiting on the Senate to do that and the president.  We don't feel they should have left town until those disaster programs were in place for 2012 to bring some relief to our livestock guys and make sure they have some relief much like our commodity producers do," said Noem.

The Senate has passed a farm bill. The House Agriculture Committee, of which Noem is a member, passed the bill out of committee. But the bill has yet to make it to the House floor. Noem says she has been working hard to convince House leaders to bring the farm bill to a vote. Varilek says Noem should be doing more to pressure leadership.

"I agree with my opponent that the best thing they could do is pass a five-year farm bill because it has all the livestock indemnity, livestock emergency and other traditional programs re-authorized in that legislation. But until that passes, that doesn't matter because right now, that has not been re-authorized.  So, I agree with my opponent to that extent but I disagree on the issue of how long we can wait to get this done," said Varilek.