Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
CLAYPOOL - U.S. Rep. Mark Souder recently received endorsement from Indiana Farm Bureau's Congressional District 3 ELECT, the organization's local political action committee.
Republican candidates for the Congressional seat - Souder, Paul Helmke and William Larson - met before the political action committee last week.
Endorsements are made by Farm Bureau members who live in Indiana's new District 3.
According to Pete Hanebutt, IFB political education specialist, the ELECT trustees decided to endorse Souder because of his previous support of Farm Bureau issues, elimination of the "death tax," his views on the energy policy and his stances on environmental and regulatory issues.
Souder acknowledged the support Monday while visiting the McSherry farm at 5647 S. CR 600W.
Souder, a Grabill native, said it was a great privilege to receive Farm Bureau's support.
Farm Bureau president Kerry Goshert and IFB agent John Newsom also were in attendance.
"You need to keep an agriculturally knowledgeable representative in Washington," Souder said. "Without Farm Bureau, soybean groups and Purdue University representatives, farmers wouldn't be able to lobby us."
The endorsement comes with a $5,000 contribution to the candidate's campaign.
Souder said agriculture is vitally important to Kosciusko and Elkhart counties.
"The types of commodities here - corn, milk, chickens, ducks - are an increasingly important part of our economic base. There may be fewer farmers, but look at the industries they support," he said.
Souder recently sponsored a visit with Secretary of Agriculture Ann Venemen at a public meeting in Grabill. Today he hosts a meeting with HUD Secretary Mel Martinez and manufactured housing representatives.
He said he is working with the medical devices industries regarding trade promotion.
"Agriculture, manufactured housing, the biomedical companies are cluster groups," he said, "and cluster groups keep people employed."
Souder said the development of wider use of ethanol on the energy bill was "dead in the Senate."
He said the U.S. must become more independent of the Middle East and other countries for fuel.
"We make pickups, SUVs, axles," he said. "We make things that consume gas. Every time we move to build ethanol plants and begin independent drilling, the oil cartels chop prices down."
He said the production of ethanol, made from any feedstocks that contain appreciable amounts of sugar, like sugar beets, sugar cane and corn, is a key supplemental part of the energy plan.
