In mid-September, 17 members of the Illinois Farm Bureau®, along with several IFB staff members, traveled to Washington, DC, where they met with members of Illinois' Congressional delegation to discuss issues important to farmers and to ask for their support on upcoming legislation. Audrey Davis, McHenry County Farm Bureau Board Member and Women's Committee Representative, was among those who traveled to Washington from September 14-16, 2010, as part of IFB's Leaders to Washington program.
Delegation members met with 15 U.S. Representatives or their staffs, and with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. Items on the agenda included estate taxes, income taxes, trade agreements, renewable fuel credits and the Clean Water Act. In their meetings, group members placed particular emphasis on the urgency of estate tax reform, highlighting a successful IFB action request, in which approximately two thousand phone calls asking for support of estate tax reform were made to Sens. Durbin and Burris. Sen. Durbin told farmers a $1 million personal exemption would be "terrible" and that he is committed to action on the estate tax before the end of the year.
The delegation also spent a morning in meetings at the offices of the United States Department of Agriculture. Members heard from USDA staff members on nutrition and energy programs and from a staff member who works to help EPA officials better understand farmers' use of crop protection products. The trip included a meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan. In advance of the congressional and USDA meetings, the group attended briefings with American Farm Bureau Federation staff.
IFB has sponsored Leaders to Washington for approximately 20 years. Trips are taken twice each year, in March and in September.
