US Senator Pete Rickets held a town hall type meeting at Valentine Livestock Auction Friday morning. There were about 60 people attending, including; farmers and ranchers, elected officials, a few business people and the media including KVSH Radio and Midland News.
Senator Rickets opened the meeting with some statements about issues he sees having major impacts on the US and Nebraska. He touched on jobs, taxes, the ag economy and the US economy in general. Rickets stated “this is the most dangerous time in our history since World War Two. His take on current tariffs would coincide with the White House to level the playing field with our trade partners.
When it came to the public’s opportunity to ask questions, there were several about country of origin labeling for cattle and the animal ID tags. A few cattle producers challenged Senator Rickets to get on board opposing COOL and Animal ID.
Other questions included; education in Nebraska, changes to Medicaid and Social Security, long term care for rural communities and why the Trump Administration is shutting off press access to media outlets that don’t agree with his policy. There was also a statement that the administration of degrading the moral fiber and human rights of US citizens.
One question was about the number of federally owned acres in Cherry County and the possibility of using those acres for more grazing and lessening the fire hazard.
The Town Hall lasted just a little over one hour.