Forest fires add snag to getting farm bill passed
WASHINGTON – Forestry provisions have emerged as the latest snag in farm bill negotiations, sending the issue to congressional leaders for talks to break the impasse.
The forestry provisions in the House-passed version of the farm bill say the proposed changes to federal forest management policies would prevent forest fires – an issue that is now at the forefront after the deadly California fires. Opponents say the proposed changes would ease federal oversight and safeguards needed to limit logging on public lands that could destroy forests habitats and reduce protections for endangered wildlife.
“The big, big question right now is this debate on forestry,” Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan told reporters Monday night. “Last-minute provisions can be the death of any complicated bill. … If it were not for that, we’d be close to wrapping this thing up.” House and Senate lawmakers are racing to craft a compromise 2018 farm bill by December. The 2014 farm bill expired on Sept. 30.
Stabenow said she, Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas, and House Agriculture Chairman K. Michael Conaway of Texas, and ranking member Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota have a handful of other issues to finish up including federal payment limits of farm subsidies.
Stabenow said the forestry issue is the only one to be sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, United States Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-mich.) makes remarks following the Democratic Party policy luncheon in the Capitol on Jan. 23 in Washington, D.C.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for action. The four are expected to discuss the issue Tuesday.
DEAR ABBY: I have been married to my husband for five years. We live in the same town as my in-laws, and for the most part, we get along great. However, my mother-inlaw does something that makes me uneasy. She uses an app to track my husband. She pressured him into installing it right before our wedding and has tracked him ever since.
She’ll often text or call him to ask why he’s going to the store, or what he was doing when he was late to work, etc. Once he tried to remove the app, but she quickly noticed and confronted him. Abby, I have never seen her so angry! My husband caved and reinstalled it. Since then, he says it doesn’t really bother him that she tracks him.
Part of me feels that if he wants to let his mother track him, that’s his business. But another part of me feels this is an invasion of my privacy as well, since we are together much of the time. It also worries me that he’s so quick to cave to his mother’s demands, and that he isn’t bothered by such an obvious invasion of privacy.
Am I wrong to be upset about this? What can I do to get my mother-in-law to give us some privacy? – UNEASY IN KANSAS
DEAR UNEASY: You’re not wrong. Your husband should revoke the location permission on the app on his phone or delete it altogether.
What his mother is doing is sick. She is using the tracker as a substitute for the umbilical cord that should have been severed when her son was born. It’s a huge invasion of your and your husband’s privacy.
He is so used to caving in to his mother that he doesn’t have the strength to assert himself. I do not think you should take your mother-in-law on by yourself. Enlist the help of a licensed marriage and family therapist for suggestions about how to create some separation, because that process may be somewhat complicated.
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DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend of 12 years worries me. He’s a man who wants life to be like he wants it to be, not like it is. He thinks everyone owes him a discount on whatever he’s buying. He can talk for what seems like a month, and while he never really lies, he never exactly tells the truth. This puts a huge strain on our relationship.
I love him, but I don’t trust him. I have caught him in many discrepancies. When confronted, he sometimes will own up to them. What should I do? – NERVOUS IN NORTH CAROLINA
DEAR NERVOUS: I think in your heart you already know what you should do. If you can’t trust someone, there is no basis for a meaningful relationship. I wish you had written me about this 11 1/2 years ago, when ending the romance would have been less painful.