The U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, the oldest committee of the U.S. Congress held its first field hearing at Allegheny Wood Products in Petersburg, West Virginia to give citizens the chance to voice their small business’ needs to the federal government.
The U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, the oldest committee of the U.S. Congress held its first field hearing at Allegheny Wood Products in Petersburg, West Virginia to give citizens the chance to voice their small business’ needs to the federal government.
Representatives from across the U.S. heard from West Virginia small business owners, workers, and families about how they have been affected by inflation, supply chain problems and high energy costs. The event was also referred to as the “State of the American Economy: Appalachia.”
West Virginia Rep. Carol Miller, a Republican member of the committee, said she was excited to have her colleagues with her in her home state.
“I am really excited for the opportunity today to be able to highlight some of the stories of hard-working West Virginians, and the unnecessary struggles that they face because of an overreaching federal government,” Miller said. “From unelected bureaucrats and uninformed lawmakers, which have caused untold damage to all of our communities in southern West Virginia in particular, the effects of bad policies have been devastating.”
Members from the community were called to testify about issues they’ve faced in each of their industries. Members were: Tom Plaugher, vice president of operations at Allegheny Wood Products; Ashley Bachman owner of Cheetah B’s Restaurant; Wylie McDade, co-owner of Devil’s Due Distillery; Jamie Ward, preparation plant manager at Consol Energy Inc.
The committee plans to travel across the nation to hold field hearings with community members over the next two years to hear firsthand from citizens about the challenges facing their families and small businesses, and how they think Congress can help.
“I really appreciate the effort this committee made, it’s quite unique. I don’t know that I’ve come to a field hearing before, so it’s really an honor to be with you,” said West Virginia Rep. Alex Mooney. “I’m grateful that this hearing is in my district, and I hope today’s discussion focuses on issues in rural America that Washington often overlooks West Virginia, families are being forced to make tough, tough economic decisions.”
Huntington Mayor Steve Williams says he’s ending his run for the U.S. House in West Virginia’s 3rd District.
Williams tells the Huntington Herald-Dispatch there are problems in the city that need his attention, including a drug epidemic and growing violence.
The Democrat is in his second mayoral term.
The House seat is being vacated by two-term Republican Congressman Evan Jenkins, who seeks the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Joe Manchin.
Announced Republican candidates include former West Virginia Republican Party Chairman Conrad Lucas; state delegates Marty Gearheart, Rupie Phillips and Carol Miller; former delegate Rick Snuffer; Dr. Ayne Amjad; and Charles “Chad” Shaffer of Kenova.
Announced Democrats include state Sen. Richard Ojeda, Delegate Shirley Love and Paul Davis, CEO of the Tri-State Transit Authority; and Edwin Ray Vanover of Bluefield.
Records and photographs from the papers of former U.S. Rep. Nick Joe Rahall II have been opened for research at West Virginia University Libraries’ West Virginia & Regional History Center.
Rahall won the 1976 contest for West Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District seat and was re-elected 18 times. He is the state’s longest-serving congressman.
The university said in a news release the materials in Rahall’s collection document his contributions to national policy and state projects.
The opened materials are mostly from press files and include speeches, press releases and newspaper clippings from throughout his tenure.
The chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party announced he’ll be running for West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.
Conrad Lucas made the announcement via an emailed letter and online video. This follows an earlier announcement this year, saying he would be stepping down as chairman of the West Virginia GOP.
Lucas is vying for U.S. Representative Evan Jenkins’ seat. Jenkins, a Republican, is running for Democrat Joe Manchin’s seat in the U.S. Senate.
Lucas joins a handful of other West Virginia representatives who are aiming for a shot in Congress, such as Republicans Rupie Phillips and Carol Miller – both members of the West Virginia House of Delegates, and Democrat Richard Ojeda – a member of the State Senate.
Lucas will also be running against former Republican Delegate Rick Snuffer.
After the spending bill was blocked, West Virginia officials are applauding the passage of legislation that includes flood recovery money.
The House voted Wednesday night to send President Obama a bill to avert a government shutdown and put $500 million toward West Virginia and Louisiana flood relief. The Senate voted earlier Wednesday.
Senators stalled the bill Tuesday after many Democrats opposed the lack of money for Flint, Michigan’s lead-contaminated water. A dozen conservative Republicans also opposed the bill.
Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito commended Wednesday’s turnaround.
Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, who requested $310 million more in federal flood cash, said additional money will help make communities stronger than ever. It’s unclear what the bill awards West Virginia.
The June floods killed 23 people and ravaged West Virginia communities.
In July, the United States House of Representatives voted on House Resolution 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. It passed the House and has now moved on to the Senate. If passed into law, it would create a federal voluntary labeling standard for genetically modified foods or those with genetically modified ingredients. Labeling would also be regulated by the FDA. Here in West Virginia, there’s been some talk and show of concern from some over this bill, including a group in the Eastern Panhandle.
Just how often do you pay attention to your food labels?
Well for one group, it’s very important.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Alexis Baden-Mayer, political director of the Organic Consumers Association, speaks at the Jefferson Forum in Charles Town.
The Jefferson Forum is a group sponsored by the Mountain Party and meets monthly at a small restaurant in Charles Town. They discuss concerns they have locally, on the state level, or in Washington, DC.
At September’s meeting, a handful of people showed up to discuss GMO products. More specifically – House Resolution 1599, a bill that recently passed in the US House and is now in the Senate. Most people at the meeting oppose the bill’s passage.
“This bill will prohibit the states from enacting GMO and genetically engineered labeling laws, such as Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut are doing,” Daniel Lutz explained. Lutz is the moderator of the Jefferson Forum, and he’s also on the state’s executive committee for West Virginia’s Mountain Party.
Lutz says he has nothing against GMO products, but feels like this new bill would prevent consumers from knowing what’s in their food.
“As we economists call it – consumer sovereignty, to say yes I want to put this on my plate or for my family; no I do not. That’s a precept of the free market that oddly enough the introducers and sponsors of this bill pretend to value, but yet they want to take it away from us.”
The legislator who introduced House Resolution 1599, is adamant that the bill is a good one.
Mike Pompeo is a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 4th district of Kansas. He’s the sponsor of the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act.
“I’m a conservative, I believe in free markets,” Pompeo said, “I believe everyone has the right to know what’s in their food, and so it permits any food producer who is in the marketplace to label their food with respect to genetically engineered products, however they’d like so long as it’s accurate.”
But another concern opponents to Pompeo’s bill have is safety.
Alexis Baden-Mayer is the political director for the Organic Consumers Association out of Washington, DC. Mayer was the Jefferson Forum’s guest speaker on the GMO discussion.
“I think all scientists understand that when you disturb the DNA, you’re going to make changes in the DNA, not only the intended changes, but also unintended changes,” Mayer noted, “and these unintended changes can result in allergies, or allergens, toxins, changes to nutritional composition, which could be dangerous in its own right.”
However, representative Mike Pompeo says his bill would make GMO consumption safer by providing a standard to food labeling.
“Today, a company can introduce a food product that is genetically engineered without having submitted that to FDA,” Pompeo explained, “We will now have a requirement that says no new genetically engineered foods can hit the market place without having been submitted for review to the FDA. I think that’s a good thing, a step forward and should give consumers more confidence, and I expect that it will.”
But for those in opposition, it all boils down to trust, and many just don’t trust the provisions in the bill.
GMO Myths vs. Facts
To clear away some myth from fact, scientist Glenn Stone helped shed some light on GMOs and whether some of the concerns raised about them are valid.
Stone is a professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. And he’s also an expert on GMO products.
What exactly is a genetically modified organism?
“Well, GMO refers to something that contains what’s called recombinant DNA, which means it contains DNA that comes from different organisms that have been inserted into the cells of the plant,” he explained.
Stone says genetically modified organisms started being created back in the early 1970s, and then in the early 1980s, scientists began creating genetically modified plants. He says agricultural crops are the most important economic use of GM technologies.
Where did the stigma come from?
“What’s happened over the past, especially the past 20 years is that a huge brouhaha has developed between promoters of GM foods and crops and detractors,” Stone explained, “And as part of this fight that has been going on, both sides spend a lot of time looking for soundbites and ideas that really resonate with people that get people excited about what’s really a slightly obscure technology. ”
Stone says there’s been a lot of claims from both sides of the argument that are true, but he also says there are some claims that aren’t.
Take for example, the concern surrounding GMO products where the entire process of gene splicing is bad or unnatural.
“Some of the claims that are made in the fight of this labeling bill are just factually incorrect. If you go to the Vermont website that supports Vermont’s labeling law, you’ll find statements like that moving of genes across the species boundary doesn’t happen in nature, and so they’re trying to depict it as something that’s inherently unnatural and alien, and that’s just not true. Genes do move across species boundaries in nature, in fact the way they make genetically modified crops is by using a natural genetic engineer. It’s this really fascinating little bacterium called agrobacterium, and what it does naturally is it inserts its genes into a plant, and these genes force the plant to produce basically food for the agrobacterium.”
Stone says the health concerns surrounding GMOs, however, could have some truth to them, especially when looking at the potential of long-term effects.
“There are some major questions that remain unanswered and will always be fairly difficult to answer about what sort of health impacts it has if you’re consuming small amounts of GMO foods on a regular basis. Does that have health impacts that might manifest themselves later in life? So, those sorts of questions, I think are pretty solid.”
What now?
As for the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, it passed the House 275 to 150 and waits for action in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Our West Virginia representatives voted in favor of the bill. West Virginia Public Broadcasting reached out to all three for comment, but they did not reply before this story aired.
There’s no telling when the bill will be taken up in the Senate, but there’s sure to be debate.
