Frank Lucas: “A Cattlemen’s Chairman”
A Cattlemen’s Chairman
By Mary Soukup, Drovers Cattle Network
Cattle rancher and rural Oklahoma resident, U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas’ priorities are close to home.
“Gentlemen, say that there are, in this country, three interests, the agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing. And how happens it, sir, that the agricultural, the great leading and substantial interest in this country, has no committee; no organized tribunal in this House to hear and determine on their grievances? If the commercial or manufacturing interests are affected, the cry resounds throughout the country; remonstrances flow in upon us; they are referred to committees appointed for the purpose of guarding them, and adequate remedies are provided. But, sir, when agriculture is oppressed, and makes complaint, what tribunal is in this House to hear and determine on the grievances?”
And thus, Lewis Williams, a U.S. Representative from Surrey County, N.C., in 1820, sponsored a resolution to create the House Committee on Agriculture. Since then, the committee has been led by 48 Republicans and Democrats, and it has grown in size and scope of jurisdiction. And while the number of lawmakers with direct ties to agriculture has dwindled over the years, the committee’s focus has remained the same – maintaining a healthy agricultural industry.
Fortunately for today’s farmers and ranchers, the committee’s chairman is one of their own – Frank Lucas, a farmer and rancher from Western Oklahoma.
Lucas’ family, corn and cotton farmers, moved to what was the Oklahoma Territory in 1900 and 1905. They have been in the same part of Western Oklahoma since then, through the Great Depression, severe droughts and multiple economic downturns.