Representative Reid Ribble (R-WI) received an award of appreciation from IDFA yesterday before his talk at the Washington Insiders Breakfast during Advocacy Days. Dave Carlin, IDFA senior vice president of legislative affairs and economic policy, presented the award, commending Ribble for his steadfast support of the U.S dairy industry.

Ribble, who is retiring from Congress this year, told the audience that he believed returning to his family business after serving for six years is exactly what America’s founding fathers had in mind when they established the legislative body. He said his best accomplishments involved “human intersections” where he handled specific concerns for individual constituents and knew he had made a difference in their lives. 

Saying every member of Congress is “nothing but a whiteboard,” Ribble told attendees their role was to write on those whiteboards during Hill visits to make sure lawmakers are making informed decisions.

Efforts for Dairy

Ribble currently serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He served on the House Agriculture Committee for several years and has been a frequent and staunch supporter of dairy interests, especially during the Farm Bill discussions on supply management.

Ribble also played a role in initiatives to expand exports for the U.S. dairy industry and eliminate unfair barriers to trade. In 2014, Ribble and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) spearheaded an effort by a bipartisan group of 177 members of the House to urge the Obama administration to use the transatlantic talks with the European Union to address export barriers that are hampering the U.S. dairy industry. As a co-chair of the Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus, Ribble led efforts calling on the administration to negotiate a strong market-access outcome for the U.S. dairy industry in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.

As a member of the House Transportation Committee, Ribble worked on issues that would increase efficiency and cuts costs for the dairy industry while maintaining safe highways for all. Last September, he introduced the Safe Trucking Act as an amendment to the highway reauthorization legislation, which would have allowed states to increase the weight limit for commercial trucks. In December, he championed a bipartisan amendment to the Transportation Conference Report that would allow higher truck weights. 

For more information, contact Carlin at dcarlin@idfa.org.