Harkin rightly called Pace on demoralizing comments.

In the final minutes of a Senate hearing Wednesday with Gen. Peter Pace, things got really interesting. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff caused a stir when “clarifying” remarks he made earlier this year. In March, Pace told the Chicago Tribune that homosexual acts were “immoral” and the military should continue its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which allows gays to serve as long as they keep quiet about being gay.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)—A bill aimed at preventing suicides among war veterans has been cleared by the Senate.

That’s according to aides Senator Tom Harkin, who says it passed unanimously last night.

The Iowa Democrat co-sponsored the bill named after Joshua Omvig. The Army Reserve member from Grundy Center killed himself in 2005 after returning home from Iraq.

Harkin Introduces Bill Establishing National Food Safety Framework

Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee is convinced that a national framework for food safety of fresh produce is needed. Currently oversight is a piece-meal combination of state and federal regulations, and according to Harkin, the Food and Drug Administration lacks the resources and authority to ensure the safety of the U.S. Food Supply.

Harkin has introduced the Fresh Produce Safety Act of 2007, which would make voluntary FDA guidelines mandatory and more frequent inspections of fresh produce operations.

Click here for the original story on the Mid-South Farmer

By MIKE GLOVER

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) — Six Democratic presidential candidates took aim at President Bush as they made their case Sunday to thousands of activists scattered across an Iowa field.

“Everybody is sick and tired of being sick and tired of George Bush,” said Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. “All you have to do is take a look at the president pretending that going around in circles was making progress. If that doesn’t get you ready to get rid of George Bush I don’t know what will.”

Washington, D.C. – Two powerful U.S. senators are feuding over a seemingly noncontroversial bill to prevent suicides among returning veterans, a spat that’s seen as reflecting larger tensions in Congress connected to the Iraq war and more.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., have gone toe-to-toe over the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act, named for a young Army reservist from Grundy Center who took his own life after returning from an 11-month deployment in Iraq.

Washington, D.C. – A battle could be brewing between the House and Senate on an issue that seldom gets much attention in Congress – rural development.

The chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Tom Harkin, is preparing a series of rural development proposals, including funding for water and sewer improvements, venture capital and even child-care centers, that would increase federal spending by $2 billion over the next five years.

The Iowa City Municipal Airport has received a $1.37 million grant to extend a runway, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said in a news release Tuesday.

The grant money will be used to improve infrastructure at the airport, specifically in extending the runway.

Harkin, who is a member of the U.S. Department of Transportation panel that oversees funding, said in the news release that the Iowa City Airport is important to the area’s economic health in drawing new businesses.

Sep 3, 2007 5:02 PM, By Forrest Laws Farm Press Editorial Staff

For months, farm groups have been gearing up for a fight over the more contentious sections of the new farm bill. Direct payments, counter-cyclical programs, payment limits all were expected to challenge.

But the Conservation Security Program? Who would have thought the CSP could become a hurdle so big that Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin would say that without it there won’t be a bill?

The Farm, Nutrition and Bioenergy Act of 2007 the House passed near the end of July contains the CSP. But the bill bars USDA from enrolling farmers in any new CSP contracts until 2012 and transfers the funding to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.