From Washington with John Block

Not much time between now and Christmas, and Congress must pass legislation to fund the government, or we will be shut down. We need an annual budget, but I expect they will just pass another stop gap spending measure to get us into January. Republicans want to delay until they take control of the House next year.

Congress is back for the so called “Lame Duck” session. They will be expected to pass legislation to keep the government funded or it will shut down. But they should not spend more money. Too much money chasing too few goods drives inflation.

Throughout my lifetime Thanksgiving has been a very important holiday – just behind Christmas. It is our opportunity to say, “Thank You” to our friends and to God.

Our midterm election was held this week. Both parties worked so hard to win. We still don’t have all the answers yet on winners in every race. Expectations and polls suggested the Republican Party would take control of the House. Going into the election the Senate was evenly divided – 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats. As I prepare this program, we still don’t know the outcome.

The war between Russia and Ukraine is a threat to the whole world. There was a sigh of relief this August after the United Nations and Turkey were able to negotiate a deal for Russia to drop its naval blockade of the Black Sea.

I was on the Illinois farm last week. We finished harvesting soybeans. I was so happy to be there and have a chance to run the combine a little. Having farmed all my life, I just wanted to watch that golden corn flow into the bin.

I will be on the farm this week. Harvest is winding down. Corn and soybean yields are good – not a record but very much in line with expectations. Farmers face a perfect storm of problems as we wrap up 2022 and must now focus on 2023.

Who would have predicted the devastation that hurricane Ian would have done to Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The tv pictures focused on homes, buildings, and boats destroyed. Let’s not forget about the orchards of fruit, small businesses, and livestock. Our prayers go out to all of those that have suffered.

The U.S. government will enter a new fiscal year. Our federal government will close down if our Congress does not pass a Continuing Resolution to approve funding in the new fiscal year. If Congress can get it done to avoid a shut down, (and I think they will) they will probably only extend business until sometime in December. Then they will have to act again to get through the rest of fiscal year 2023.

We face some serious global challenges. The human population has doubled in the last 50 years to 8 billion. We will need productive farmland to increase food production and forest land to get the wood to build houses. Demand for land has pushed land prices to a record level.