Day 8

June 9, 2010

Another early morning! After heading to the hill for group and individual pictures in front of the Grant statue we all broke off and headed to our individual Congressional visits. My three appointments were with Representative Frank Lucus followed by Senator Inhoff. Senator Inhoff graciously came out of session to meet with me for a few moments and take a photo. My last meeting was with Senator Dr. Coburn. After visiting with all three then speaking to my fellow delegates I am pretty lucky for the majority most everyone representing Oklahoma is pro-ag and have a lot of common sense!

A few of the items we discussed were the death tax, water rights, the right for producers to use antibiotics and the problems production agriculture as a whole is facing. Overall, I felt everything went well. One thing that really stands out is a statement from Dr. Coburn. When I asked why he had given up a successful career in medicine to come to Washington he told me point blank "I have children and grandkids and I was tired of all the B.S. going on in Washington that is slowly destroying America!" How cool is that? So nice to know we really have a few in our corner.

We are now off to White Stone in Aldie, Va., for dinner, a little fun and the auction in which each delegate and/or association had to donate an item. The money raised goes to the NCBA PAC (political action committee). Another way we have been raising money for PAC during our trip is through the $5 fines for rules we break. The fines are as follows: nodding off during meetings, not wearing your name badge and not having your YCC pin on. So far I've had to pay $10 to the PAC. My two fines were forgetting my pin and nodding off! However our Sergeant-of- arms JJ from Nevada told me he was proud of me because after I feel asleep I continued to set straight up! Maybe I have just discovered my special talent "set sleeping!"

See you tomorrow!