Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline – September 21, 2019

This week I had the pleasure of welcoming U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, to Virginia’s Sixth Congressional District. Agriculture is the lifeblood of rural America, and the industry employs more than half a million Virginians throughout the Commonwealth.

Knowing the importance of the dairy industry is to our district, I asked Secretary Perdue to join me on a tour of Mt. Crawford Creamery in Mt. Crawford, VA. While there, the Secretary and I had the chance to see their operation firsthand and gained a better understanding of what it takes to succeed in the dairy industry. We also heard about the issues family farms in our region face, especially when it comes to the tariffs and crippling taxes imposed by the federal government. When the creamery’s owner passed away in 1997, his two sons were left with a massive estate tax that severely depleted their cash reserves. Fortunately, through their hard work, passion, and innovation, they were able to overcome the government’s roadblock and continue to remain successful to this day.

Following the tour, Secretary Purdue and I hosted an agriculture listening session with various stakeholders from the area. I was pleased that the Secretary and I had the opportunity to hear directly from farmers and producers in our district about the difficulties they face each and every day. I thank Secretary Purdue for coming to the Sixth District and look forward to working with him to ensure the long-term success of Virginia farmers.

Congress Passes Short-Term Funding Bill:
This week, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the 2019 fiscal year on September 30. This temporary funding bill merely pushes discussion on important spending issues off until after November 21 and almost certainly ensures that Congress will be pressured to pass another bloated omnibus spending bill for 2020.

Our appropriations process is broken. CRs are intended to be used only in extreme circumstances, but yet again, the Senate has failed in their duty to pass any appropriations bill at all. Year after year, Congress uses CRs, which should be the option of last-resort, to postpone—or rather, altogether avoid—its duty to pass a responsible budget. During my time in the Virginia General Assembly, I worked to ensure that our rules required that the state’s budget deal be available for review for 48 hours before the General Assembly voted on it. This kind of transparency is important for our government. Unfortunately, our federal government does not heed the same rule, even when it’s required of them. In violation of the 72-hour House rule, the CR was considered less than 24 hours after its introduction.

Passing this CR is bad for our country. It extends funding for some programs beyond their originally prescribed levels, and it perpetuates an inability of Congress to properly wield its constitutional power of the purse to carry out annual appropriations. Our continued failure to control spending and address our mounting debt is a threat to our nation, our economy, and our children. Going forward, Congress must make meaningful changes to the appropriations process.

Congress Honors NASA’s “Hidden Figures”:
The House also honored several notable women this week. H.R. 1396, the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act, awarded Congressional Gold Medals to Katherine Johnson and Dr. Christine Darden and posthumously awarded Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson. Much of the success of the early space program, including the 1969 Apollo moon landing, would not have been possible without the minds of these brave and brilliant women.

Katherine Johnson began her career as a “computer” in the segregated West Area Computing unit at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Despite the discrimination she initially faced, Johnson became one of the most instrumental figures in getting American astronauts in space and to the moon. Dr. Christine Darden’s work as a NASA aerospace engineer revolutionized aerodynamics design. Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, like Johnson, began in Langley’s West Area Computing unit. Vaughan, an expert FORTRAN programmer, became NASA’s first African-American supervisor. Jackson, a native Virginian, worked in and studied theoretical aerodynamics and contributed a dozen technical papers on the boundary layer of air around airplanes.

These four women, also known as the “Hidden Figures,” were integral to the success of the early space program, and their stories exemplify the experiences of the other brilliant women who played an integral role in building the space program in the World War II and Cold War era. Our nation owes them a great debt and a grand show of gratitude.

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