Udall Thanks House for Joining His Effort to Ban Public Funding for Party Conventions
Calls on U.S. House of Representatives to Pass 2012 Farm Bill, Which Includes Same Legislation
Mark Udall thanked the U.S. House of Representatives today for voting to cut off public funding for political party conventions and encouraged the House to pass the 2012 Farm Bill, which already includes Udall’s provision to prohibit the use of taxpayer funds for national conventions.
“The American taxpayers should not foot the bill for expensive partisan parties,” Udall said. “Passing this legislation is a small but important step my colleagues and I can and have taken to assure taxpayers how serious we are about commonsense fiscal reform. I am glad the House took this important step, but now it’s time for them to vote for the deficit-reducing 2012 Farm Bill, which will cut the deficit by $23 billion. Farmers, ranchers and foresters cannot wait until December for the certainty they need.”
The Senate passed a similar provision, sponsored by Udall and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), as an amendment to the 2012 Farm Bill. The House, however, has declined to take up the Farm Bill, despite its bipartisan passage through the House Agriculture Committee and a bipartisan petition signed by more than 50 lawmakers, including Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), asking that leadership bring the legislation up for a vote.
Udall has repeatedly pushed the House to take up the 2012 Farm Bill, including a recent letter to House leadership. Udall successfully amended the 2012 Farm Bill earlier this summer to include provisions to strengthen its forestry title and to double the annual funding authorization for bark beetle mitigation.
Udall recently received the ‘Golden Triangle’ Award from the National Farmers’ Union and has been selected as recipient of the ‘Friend of the Farm Bureau’ Award for his support of rural Colorado and farmers and ranchers through legislation like the 2012 Farm Bill.