This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
Former Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow might be retired, but she’s not exactly taking a break.
IPR’s Izzy Ross caught up with the former Democratic lawmaker at the Northern Michigan Policy Conference last week in Acme.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Listen by clicking the audio player at the top.
IZZY ROSS, INTERLOCHEN PUBLIC RADIO: You recently retired. As someone who is now a private citizen, do you feel like you have more freedom than before? And how do you think you're going to use that?
DEBBIE STABENOW: Well, I intend to stay engaged, that's for sure. As my good friend John Lewis said, I tend to be involved in creating good trouble.
So it's different. I had a lot of clout because of my seniority in chairing the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, so I could block and tackle, protect the conservation and climate money. I was in a unique position to do that, a unique position to move forward on healthy foods and access to foods and so on, and for the Great Lakes.
But on the outside ... it's a different kind of role in terms of advocacy, so that I can get other people to engage in these issues. Because in this world that we are in today, it's going to take a lot of people from different backgrounds and different voices to be able to stand up together.
IPR: I'd like to delve into a few things that you've worked on over the course of your long career in the Senate. One is the farm bill. The farm bill has faltered over the past few years. You came out with your own version last year. I'd like to hear what you're most proud of including in your version of the farm bill.
STABENOW: Well, let me say, first of all, I've always been on the agriculture committee, whether I was in the state Legislature, the U.S, House, U.S. Senate, because it's so important. You don't have an economy unless somebody makes something and somebody grows something. And so that's why I've been very focused.
I've been involved in six farm bills at the federal level, led two of them, and they're done every five years. And this time around, unfortunately, for the first time, partisanship really seeped into our committee in a way that was very disappointing to me. We've always been able to keep partisanship out of the committee.
"It's a different kind of role in terms of advocacy, so that I can get other people to engage in these issues. Because in this world that we are in today, it's going to take a lot of people from different backgrounds and different voices to be able to stand up together."
Former U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
... on life after the Senate
But we ended up in a situation where the Republican House passed a bill that had the largest cut in SNAP funding food assistance ever, and they took our climate money, which is so important for protecting our land and water and addressing the climate issue, which is hitting farmers right over the head, by the way. So we rejected that. I tried to negotiate. The normal way would be to get a bipartisan bill in the Senate. I could not get my counterpart to negotiate, so I put up my own bill.
I think in the long view, what I'm proudest of is championing fruits and vegetables — what we call specialty crops — and urban agriculture, and farmers markets, and small farms, diverse farms and so on, to make sure that agriculture policy supports all kinds of farms in all kinds of places, and that we're supporting what's called specialty crops, fruits and vegetables, which are about half of what we grow, and we all say we think people should eat.
And so that's very important to me. And having championed and protected them, now, even though we didn't get a farm bill done, I was able to get additional resources at the end of the year for fruits and vegetables, as well as help in general for agriculture producers. And I think right now, what's most important is to make sure we don't go backwards on food assistance in getting a final farm bill done. And we need to protect the conservation money that is focused on keeping carbon in the soil and protecting and supporting our farmers from the climate crisis.
ROSS: Sen. Gary Peters is retiring. Elissa Slotkin won a very tight race for your seat this past election. Do you think that seat is vulnerable for a GOP takeover?
STABENOW: I absolutely believe it will stay in Democratic hands. And I think, given what's happening nationally right now, that probably two years from now — 2026 — will be a very good year for Democrats.