Latham talks pork, the real stuff

Washington, D.C.—Iowa Congressman Tom Latham met with the National Pork Producers Council recently. In the meeting, Iowa representatives from the council stressed the importance of international trade to the domestic pork industry, and specifically the pork producers of Iowa. Curtis Hollis from Waterloo, Scott Tapper from Webster City, Bill Tentinger from Le Mars, John Weber from Dysart, Mark Meirick from Protivin and Jeff Schness from Clive were on hand for the meeting.

"Amazingly, the Speaker of the House is blocking a vote in Congress that would open vast new markets for Iowa products," said Congressman Latham. "The Speaker should immediately move Congress on the Columbia Free Trade Agreement, the Korean Free Trade Agreement and the Panama Trade Agreement. There is no reason American products, like Iowa's pork and so many other products produced throughout our state, should be penalized by our own government when working with these nations. We need the Speaker to deal with theses issues, and we need her to do it now."

Iowa's pork industry, as well as many other Iowa industries, stands to gain economically with these treaties. "In a time of economic uncertainty, with recent bailouts amidst thousands of layoffs, it is imperative that the Speaker allow for these trade agreements to be addressed by the House of Representatives. The Speaker can no longer block American progress. Her reluctance to acknowledge these agreements and the prosperity they would create in Iowa and the rest of the country has caused the 110th Congress to be one of the least active and most obstructive Congresses in American history. Iowans need this. Americans needs this. The Speaker needs to call action on these agreements, and she needs to call for it now.”