If Talk were Fuel…
It would be cheap in our nation’s capitol. I just spent the past two hours and 15 minutes listening to the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on Biofuels. The first hour was taken up with comments from 13 of the senators in attendance – thanking everyone for holding the meeting, saying how much they looked forward to hearing testimony from the witnesses, and commenting on what was being done to help the biofuels industry in their states. That being done, the actual testimony from the four witnesses took about 20 minutes. The rest of the time, just short of an hour, was questions and answers – mostly questions. It is amazing how long a senator can take to ask a question!
At any rate, the panelists were Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dinneen, National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe, CHS Inc. Executive Vice President Jay Debertin and Iowa State University professor Robert C. Brown, Ph.D – and they had some good comments and answers to senators’ questions and concerns. We’ll get some of that up in audio form post haste. Stay tuned.
1 Comment »
Bradley Looferman
Always a dangerous combination — a professional politician and a TV camera.
In my humble opinion, Congressional hearings don’t accomplish much. They are more about the politicians posturing and seeking a soundbite than collecting information with which to make a decision. I bet all the senators at today’s hearing already had their minds made up, or had already been contaminated by lobbyists.
I testified at a state hearing not long ago and then monitored the rest of the testimony. No one’s mind was changed by anything they heard that day. It is just something they go through so they can say they are seeking public input.
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