VELA FOLLOWS IN THE STEPS OF KIKA DE LA GARZA

By Juan Montoya
I remember the second time I was in Brownsville working for the Brownsville Herald in the mid-1980s.
At the time, U.S. Rep. Eligio "Kika" de la Garza represented almost all of the Rio Grande Valley and was the chairman of the House of Representatives Agricultural Committee responsible for doling out the subsidies to farmers and the for the food commodity program for the needy.
That was the heyday of farm subsidies. Everything from growers of Angora sheep wool in San Angelo to sugar beet growers in Minnesota and sugar cane farmers in Santa Rosa got a piece of the agricultural pie. The wool growers traced their subsidy back to the days when the wool was needed to line the leather jackets of pilots and field jackets of infantrymen. With war rationing of those materials, the sheep growers provided a necessary product to fight the war. But by the 1970s and 1980s those days were far gone. By the early 1980s, synthetics had replaced wool in just about every garment used in  civilian clothing. The military was moving in that direction because synthetics were lighter and water-proof.
Ditto for sugar beet and sugar and growers. There was, and is today,  a sugar glut in the world that did not (and still does not) justify the erection of tariffs and price-support subsidies to these farmers. Today, these structures are still in place as are price-guarantees for dairy and corn growers, cotton producers, etc. There is even a set-aside program to pay farmers for not farming.
But that didn't stop the House Agricultural committee from doling out the goodies every time a Farm Bill came along.
In those days, Kika would amble into a meeting of the local county farmers meeting and lisp out a heavily-accented greeting to let them know he was "a leetle choochine boy from Michon" representing their interests in Washington.
"You know," he would start off, "I feel so privileched to theenk det a leetle choochain boy from Micihon can get to be a You Es representative from the Veli in Wachinton, Di Ci."
And so on, and so on.
Later, when he was one on one, the accent would disappear and he would be a fluent, if not articulate, English speaker.
Last year, instead of approving the farm and commodity food program each five years, Congress voted to extend the length of the previous bill until Oct. 1 of this year to reconcile both programs.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she tapped Filemon Vela Jr. for his leadership and dedication to “restore stability to our farmers and ranchers, our rural communities and American families across the country.”
The Senate in May approved a bill calling for a reduction of $3.9 billion from Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as food stamps, but the the Republican-led  House stripped its version of the SNAP language and its proposal lops $20.5 billion through restrictions to categorical eligibility.
So far, both farmers expecting subsidies and the needy have been uncertain about the future of federal supports.
Trying to narrow the $16.6 billion difference between both bills will be the task before committee members, and despite his populist statements in favor of the nutrition programs, don't be surprised if Vela and his colleagues leave the unnecessary sugar tariffs and crop
price support subsidies in place. After all, Santa Rosa is in his district.
The only thing we can hope for is that needy people don't go hungry and that Vela doesn't develop a Kika accent.
"I yam so privileched to theenk dat a boy from bransvil tejxas is in de halls of congress in Wachinton Di Ci. I yam so heppy to be on dis cameaty..."