Barkley in Agri News

I'll skip the bio...

Dean Barkley is waging an uphill battle in his quest to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate.

Barkley is competing against two well-funded opponents, yet he is polling in the double digits.

He gets plenty of people who say a vote for a third party candidate is a wasted vote, but Barkley says, "don't waste your vote on voting for more of the same."

He adds a quote from Ben Franklin to back it up.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
In debates, Barkley is the candidate who most often mentions the federal debt, which has passed $10 trillion dollars. The national debt is crushing the nation's economy, Barkley says.

He's optimistic about the new farm bill.

"I think the most exciting thing about the farm bill is the new ACRE program," Barkley said.

The Average Crop Revenue Election program will be available starting with the 2009 crop year. It is based on changes in crop revenue.

Health care

Congress can remove the handcuffs from Medicare and allow it to negotiate lower drug costs.

The nation needs to break the string that the drug industry has to Congress and start lowering costs. The Medicare system should also be opened to any American who wants to buy it and Medicare should be allowed to compete with private sector insurance providers.

Renewable energy

There needs to be a loan program for individual farmers to give them the opportunity to actually buy and own wind generation. If more wind turbines are installed, the nation will need to build more transmission lines, which is not an easy thing to do, Barkley said.

"We have to quit talking about it and do it," he said.

Renewable energy tax credits are also essential, Barkley said. Congress needs to take the tax credits from oil companies and put those into renewable energy.

"Exxon Mobil doesn't need any more tax breaks from us, the taxpayers," he said.

Conservation

The Conservation Reserve Program is an excellent program, Barkley said. During the Ventura administration, the state's share was fully funded.

He said there should be more flexibility in how the land is used.

Transportation

When it comes to paying for needed repairs and upgrades to our nation's roads, Barkley doesn't sugarcoat his answer.

"There is no easy way of paying for it," he said. "If we want better roads and bridges, we have to raise the gas tax."

The federal gas tax hasn't been increased in 20 years, Barkley said.

Barkley also supports the expansion of the DM&E Railroad.