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Schock Says Fiscal Cliff Talks May Solve Farm Bill

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Cal

A western Illinois Congressman thinks the President’s recent proposal to solve the fiscal cliff is not serious.

Republican Aaron Schock said negotiations are moving forward, but he believes the President needs to agree to deeper spending cuts.

In addition, he said he concurs with Republican leaders who say they will not support any plan that raises tax rates for the rich.

Schock said he was in Carthage recently to hear what the people of his district were concerned about.

He said, " Everybody's asking me what's going to happen to my tax rates come January? What's going to happen to the estate tax, is it really going to come back? Are capital gains and dividend income going to go up to 44 percent?"

Schock adds he expects an agreement on the long delayed farm-bill will come out of the fiscal cliff talks.

He blames the delay on the ranking Republican in the Senate Ag Committee who is now willing to make a deal. He said that Senator Pat Robert was  opposed to price supports for specialty crops that mainly grown in the south, like peanuts.

Scott Stuntz is a former reporter at Tri States Public Radio.