Stabenow, Peters in Traverse City; talk priorities, debt ceiling

Jan. 20—TRAVERSE CITY — In her last two years in office, Sen. Debbie Stabenow said one of her top priorities will be to make sure Michigan is represented in the upcoming five-year Farm Bill.

That's along with issues such as Great Lakes conservation, economic development, and completing the long-planned renovations on the Soo Locks in the Upper Peninsula, the outgoing senator said.

"What I am focused on is making sure everybody in Northern Michigan has a fair shot to succeed with her family," she said. "In Northern Michigan, we make things and we grow things."

Stabenow, who at the start of this year announced she wouldn't run again after her current term ends in 2024, is in Traverse City this week with many other policymakers for the Northern Michigan Policy Conference.

Both she and fellow Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters spoke to reporters Thursday afternoon at the Great Lakes Campus of Northwestern Michigan College.

Stabenow said she led the last two farm bills, the most recent of which was enacted in December 2018 and expires this year.

That bill, which harkens back to the New Deal Era in the 1930s, helps regulate both food supply and prices, while also protecting natural resources. A major function is to provide a "safety net" for farmers and their families, Stabenow said.

In the upcoming bill, Stabenow said she intends to make sure "Michigan's on every page" of that nearly thousand-page document. That means representing the interests of cherry farmers, as well as other agricultural producers in the region, she said.

"Every part of the Farm Bill matters," she said.

Shortly before the legislators spoke to the press Thursday, the federal government hit its debt limit, forcing the Treasury Department to take measures so the U.S. wouldn't default on its debt.

The debt ceiling is a cap on the amount of debt the government is allowed to incur to pay for expenses already allocated in the federal budget. Currently, House Republicans are delaying negotiations on raising that cap while calling for spending cuts.

"You have to pay your debts," Peters said.

Both he and Stabenow touted the Inflation Reduction Act, passed in August, a measure that lowered the deficit while tamping down on prescription drug prices and investing in clean energy.

"The way to deal with a rising deficit is to deal with it up front, when we're passing appropriations bills," Peters said. "And when we have bills that actually reduce the deficit, like the Inflation Reduction Act, I would hope my Republican colleagues would join us and actually vote to do that."

The debt ceiling is an "antiquated" process, Stabenow added, but the choice to raise the debt ceiling is something that "absolutely needs to get done."

Report for America corps member and data journalist William T. Perkins' reporting is made possible by a partnership between the Record-Eagle and Report for America, a journalism service project founded by the nonprofit Ground Truth Project. Generous community support helps fund a local share of the Record-Eagle/RFA partnership. To support RFA reporters in Traverse City, go to www.record-eagle.com/rfa.