39 Grange members from around the
Commonwealth participated in the National Grange 2007
Legislative Fly-In in Washington, D.C. Monday and Tuesday.
35 Grangers traveled by bus from the Farm
Show parking lot Monday morning and were met by 4 additional PA
Grange members (including William Steel, National Grange
President, a Pennsylvanian himself) at the
National Grange Headquarters on H Street, N.W., Washington,
D.C. They were joined by 16 other Grange members from 15 states
to
participate in various legislative events in
the nation's capital.
Monday was spent at the National Grange
Headquarters listening to various speakers including: Bill
Rozett, V.P., American Petroleum Institute on "The Energy
Security Debate";
Hon. Mike Dunn, Commissioner, U.S.
Commodities Futures Trading Commission on "Commodity Prices
and Market Integrity: Who's Watching the Store?"; John Swen, Pfizer
Inc.
V.P. for Science Policy and Public Affairs on
"Pharmaceutical Research & Development Issues and Their
Impact on Rural Health Care"; Ed Maxiner, Editor, Kiplinger
Agricultural Newsletter on "Farm Bill 2007"; and Dr.
George Ford, Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic
Policy Studies on "Net Neutrality and Telecommunications
Reform."
After a reception and tour of the National
Grange Headquarters building, the attendees moved a few blocks
to the Capitol Hilton for dinner hosted by National Grange. The
final
speaker of the evening was Nona Bear, author
and elder rights activist, who spoke on "New Realities of
Aging in our Society."
Tuesday morning saw the Pennsylvania Grangers
head to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum for a brief
tour. The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry
is a
contributing sponsor of this portion of the
Smithsonian Museum system. The Grange was the single most
important organization responsible for convincing Congress to
enact Rural
Free Postal Delivery and there are numerous
areas in the museum where the importance of the Grange and
Grange halls are mentioned.
The PA Grangers then moved to the Rayburn
Building where they hosted a Congressional Luncheon. There,
they were joined by U.S. Representatives Charles Dent (R-15),
Phil English (R-3), Tim Holden (D-17), Joseph Pitts (R-16), and
Todd Platts (R-19) as well as staff members from various other
Representatives and Sen. Arlen Specter's office. All of the
Representatives and staff members had an opportunity to address
the Grangers and all spoke about the importance of agriculture
in Pennsylvania as well as in the nation, with special emphasis
on the upcoming Farm Bill 2007. Rep. Platts, who recently
returned from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, paid a special
tribute to our military personnel fighting the war against
terrorism and voiced his support of the President's veto of the
recently passed bills of the House and Senate calling for
immediate scheduled withdrawal of our troops.
The congressmen were then followed by George
Wolff of Wolff Strategies, the lobbying firm retained by the PA
State Grange. George, a Grange member himself, traveled with
the
group from Harrisburg and gave his opinions
and insights into some of the politics presently under way in
our Commonwealth and how they may impact our U.S. Congress.
Following the luncheon at the Capitol, the
members traveled to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
where they had free time to tour the museum before they left to
return to
Harrisburg later in the afternoon.
The 2007 National Grange Legislative Fly-In
is hosted by Leroy Watson, National Grange Legislative
Director. As National Grange President William Steel explained,
"Our
legislative Fly-In is a demonstration of
grassroots advocacy. We are proud to be able to give our
members a unique, behind the scenes, adventure into politics.
We will continue to
provide our members with as much knowledge as
possible about political processes so that knowledge can better
serve rural America."
The Grange is a family fraternal organization
dedicated to the betterment of the American quality of life
through community service, education, legislation and
fellowship. The
Grange includes members of all ages from
their Junior Grange (ages 5-14), Youth Members (ages 14-23),
Young Adults (ages 21-35) and Regular Community (local) members
(age 14 and up). The Grange represents
approximately 15,000 Pennsylvanians across the Commonwealth. It
is the oldest agricultural and rural advocacy organization of
its kind in
the United States. The National Grange
(Patrons of Husbandry), representing about 150,000 members,
began in 1867 and the PA State Grange was chartered in 1873.
