EL PASO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2018) The Texas Farm Bureau, a conservative lobbying group, will support Republican Senator Ted Cruz in the upcoming election because he has done more to oppose burdensome government regulations although concerns over tariffs loom, bureau spokesperson Gene Hall told Sputnik.
US President Donald Trump earlier this year sparked a trade war by imposing tariffs on billions of Dollars' worth of Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to respond in kind. China especially targeted agricultural products from US states - like Texas - that are holding key congressional elections.
"On issues like the farm bill, the push to control regulation, primarily at the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] Senator Cruz has been with us on those kinds of issues," Hall said. "We would really like to see the tariffs settled sooner rather than later... We've encouraged Senator Cruz, Senator [John] Cornyn, and the congressional delegation to work toward that end."
The roughly 500,000-member Texas Farm Bureau political action fund has endorsed Cruz who is facing Democratic candidate Congressman Beto O'Rourke for a seat in the US Senate in the November 6 midterm elections.
Hall said the farm bureau would prefer that Trump negotiate with foreign competitors on trade as opposed to imposing tariffs. However, Hall also pointed out that there is a lot of patience for Trump, Congress and Cruz to work their way through the current trade disputes.
Hall said a key issue for Texas farmers is the 2015 Clean Water Act which Cruz has done more to address than O'Rourke.
"A lot of people believe it would not have been possible to farm with the strictest interpretation of that rule," Hall said. "We were facing situations where land that was not wet even most of the time was being designated as a Wet Land."
Cruz in a debate last month said he has worked hard for farmers and slammed O'Rourke for supporting President Barack Obama's restrictive water regulations. O'Rourke, for his part, has proposed measures to benefit farmers such as financial aid, ensuring access to foreign markets, and immigration reform to prevent labor shortfalls.
On Friday, a University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll revealed that Cruz now has a 6 point lead over O'Rourke despite the Democratic challenger nearly doubling the incumbent in fundraising.
On September 4, the Trump administration unveiled a $12 billion aid package to help farmers suffering from retaliatory tariffs. Critics have argued that Trump's tariffs have hurt the US economy including farmers, exemplified by the price of soybeans dropping to a 10-year low.
The Texas Farm Bureau, founded in 1993, is a politically-active grass-roots advocacy group that lobbies state and Federal lawmakers on issues like water, property rights and trade policy.
