Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a fifth-term lawmaker and the favorite to become the next speaker of the House, represents the southern San Joaquin Valley and southern Sierra Nevada. Agriculture, energy and defense are the three major industries of this slice of California’s Central Valley, says a description by McCarthy’s office of his district. With the announcement by Speaker John Boehner of his decision to leave the House at the end of October, McCarthy became the immediate front-runner for speaker.
The 3,400 farms in the 23rd House District produced $2.35 billion worth of crops and livestock in 2012, the seventh-highest total for the state and the 40th-highest for the country, says the USDA’s Ag Census. The bulk of the revenue was from fruits, vegetables and dairy. Oranges, grapes and almonds were leading crops.
Advocates of comprehensive immigration reform, using the district’s prominence in agriculture as a lever, tried unsuccessfully during 2013 and 2014 to prod McCarthy to schedule action on the immigration. McCarthy served on the House Financial Services Committee before election as a senior Republican leader. He voted for the 2014 farm law, which passed 251-166. His district has productive oil fields and is home to three military bases and a NASA research center.
The unexpected contest for GOP leadership was “throwing into doubt the prospects for getting an agreement on highway funding and on issues critical to agriculture,” said Agri-Pulse. It pointed to riders on government funding bills that would block EPA’s “waters of the United States” rule. Rep. Robert Aderholt, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing USDA and FDA, told Agri-Pulse that he believed McCarthy has the support of House Republicans to become speaker while Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway said, “Based on the mood of the conference, it’s going to be a pretty spirited contest.”