Sec. of Agriculture speaks
about farm bill, days at 'U'
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 18, 1995 - 5
By Zachary M. Raimi
Daily Staff Reporter
One of Dan Glickman's most vivid
memories of his time at the Univer-
sity was running across the Diag late
at night at the insistence of his honor
society.
"They got us up in the middle of
the night and we had to prance around
half-naked on the Diag," he said.
Glickman has come a long way
since then, going from the Diag to the
nation's capital, serving in Congress
for 18 years. On March 30, he was
sworn in as secretary of Agriculture
and is now scheduled to travel across
the country to win support of a new
omnibus farm bill to be taken up in
Congress later this year.
The new secretary graduated from
the University in 1966 with a B.A. in
history.
In a telephone interview last week,
Glickman said that his new job is "a
lot different than any other job I've
ever held before."
"There's about 110,000peoplethat
work for the Department of Agricul-
ture, so its an enormous challenge,"
he said.
Glickman, who grew up in
Wichita, Kan., said he found the Uni-
versity overwhelming at first.
"With me, it was like coming frdm
a fairly small town in Kansas," he
said. "Michigan was big, but I en-
joyed it very much."
Glickman was very active while at
the University. He served as presi-
dent of the literature school of LSA
from 1965 to 1966, and was involved
in the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. He
also participated in theater and drama,
which, he said, was probably mosthelp-
SIMON
Continued from page 1
cutting student loan programs is nec-
essary to reduce the deficit. Is there a
way to cut the deficit and continue the
student loan programs?
S: Well, the answer is: You have
to make priorities. I strongly favor
balancing the budget. I'm one of the
leaders in the Senate for a balanced-
budget amendment. And if we can get
one more vote, we will be able to
bring interest rates down - then we
will have more funding for things that
ful with his career in public service.
"I think I was just always inter-
ested in (public service)," he said. "I
think my involvement in drama prob-
ably had as much to do with building
confidence as anything."
Glickman met his wife, Rhoda
Yura, in one of these drama produc-
tions. His father-in-law, Samuel Yura
of Farmington Hills, Mich., said he
liked Dan as soon as he met him. "I
thought very highly of him," Yura
said. "He's a very presentable per-
son."
After gradu-
ating from the
University,
Glickman en-
tered law school
at George Wash-r
ington Univer-
sity. In 1976,
Glickman won a
seat in Congress Gflckman in
representing 1966
Kansas's 4th
Congressional District.
During his 18 years in the House,
Glickman said he supported the Uni-
versity. "While I was in the House, I
used to go to the University of Michi-
gan breakfasts, and I know all the
people here that represent the U-M,"
he said. "I always tried to be helpful
legislatively when I could."
His congressional careerended with
the Republican electoral victories last
November. "I think I was one of those
who was kind of swept out by the
Republican tide that was elected in
November," he said. "The districtleaned
Republican anyway, but became more
Republican as time went on and what
happened was, when the tide came, I
just couldn't hold it anymore."
Glickman said he has no resent-
ment about the way things turned out.
"The larger pressures hit and I accept
it, I understand it. I'm not angry or
anything like that," he said.
He was the first Democrat from
his district elected to Congress since
the Great Depression.
After Mike Espy resigned as head
of the Agriculture Department last
year, President Clinton tapped
Glickman to fill the vacant post. At
the time, Clinton said Glickman's
knowledge of farm issues was a main
reason for the nomination.
One of his Republican colleagues,
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-
Kan.), helped get the Senate to con-
firm him. "I have great respect for
him as a legislator," Glickman said.
"Sen. Dole was very helpful in the
process of getting me confirmed."
Glickman said he hopes to lead the
debate on the next farm bill. He said he
was not sure of its content. "The farm
bill this year will be as much budget-
driven as anything else," he said.
"But it is clear that given the bud-
get problems we're in now, all as-
pects of American government are
going to have to be examined, includ-
ing farm policy," he added.
As Glickman learned from his
defeat, nothing lasts forever in poli-
tics, but he said he has no specific
plans for the future.
"I'm not looking that far ahead,
but I believe I do not want to spend the
rest of my life in government," he.
said. "I served 18 years in Congress,
and I think at some point while I'm
still young enough, I want to do some
kind of work in the private sector."
i
arc important. This year, we will spend
$339 billion, the federal government,
as a gross interest expenditure. That's
11 times the total amount we will
spend on education, and it's getting
worse every year.
One of the other points in this
connection is if direct lending can get
approved and we're able to defeat the
Republican amendment (to cap it),
then you do save that money that we
subsidize to the banks and the subsid-
iary markets. If that loses, then there
will be more pressure for the in-school
interest charge.
D: Could you sum up your overall
opinion on the Republican proposals?
S: It just seems to me they're mov-
ing in the wrong direction. What we
ought to be doing is making a prority
out of education at all levels - that is
not being done. If we're going to be
competitive, with Japan and the rest
of the world, we can't just be spend-
ing money on bombers and Star Wars
and stuff like that. We're already
spending almost as much as the rest of
the world combined on defense. The
area we have to improve is our human
resources.
I
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