(Rolling Prairie, IN) - Congressman Rudy Yakym (R) kicked off his summer “Hoosier Heartland” tour in La Porte County yesterday. Throughout August Yakym will visit all 11 counties in Indiana’s Second Congressional District multiple times to meet with Hoosier constituents.

 

Yakym’s first stop on the tour was Keystone Cooperatives in Rolling Prairie, where the focus was farming. Yakym acknowledged that prices of fuel and fertilizer are putting farmers in a pinch. He explained that the conflict in Iran is challenging, becasue the regime there has every incentive to drag things out. Congress is doing what it can, he said, to help the Trump administration open the Strait of Hormuz for good.

 

“That’s a critical component for global economic security,” Yakym told HTNN. “The President has come to us with requests from a funding perspective for additional things for the military that he needs, and we’re looking at those funding requests right now.”

 

Some local farmers, like Mark Parkman, have their eyes on other legislation. “We expressed our view that everything’s expensive in our business,” said Parkman. “Right now our commodities are down a little bit, but hopefully the Farm Bill gets passed, and we can get through all this.”

 

The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, which drives agriculture policy, is currently operating under an extension running through September. Different versions from the House and Senate are vying for passage. Yakym voted in favor of the House bill when it was passed in April. “Rudy’s a good man, but he’s only one man, so we need more people to think that way,” said Parkman.

 

In the meantime, Yakym is back in his district getting feedback from voters. “We’ll listen to Hooisers, hear what their concerns and issues are,” he said, “and then come September, get on a plane, go to Washington, D.C. and fight for them.”