Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore.
The government shutdown could last for one, two or three weeks, Rep. Kurt Schrader, R-Ore., the ranking member on the House Agriculture Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology and Foreign Subcommittee, told the United Fresh Produce Association today.

“I suspect both sides are both up in the trees right now,” Schrader said. “Most people aren’t going to find the shutdown in a week,” he said, but after a second or third week there will be more pressure on Congress to fund the government.

Schrader praised Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., the chairman of the subcommittee, for his work on assuring funding for specialty crop programs.

“We are the future,” said Scott, a veterinarian who also grew strawberries before running for Congress. “Our niche is the research program. Fresh produce has a lot of cachet.”

Schrader said he is “actually optimistic” that the farm bill could be a path for members of the House “learning to work together again.”

Some freshmen members told him that the farm bill markup was “fun” because there was a “lot of give and take” and bipartisan camaraderie.

“There is not a lot of fun in Congress these days, “ Schrader said. A farm bill hearing, he said, can “renew your faith in these dark, dark times.”

But in general, he said, “Congress is a bad place” where people believe their own press releases. “It’s an echo chamber in these solid, entrenched districts.”

Schrader said he is from one of only 35 districts out of 435 that are considered competitive.

“I have to listen to everybody and enjoy listening to everybody,” he said. Noting that he had learned to listen when he was a veterinarian, Schrader said a lot of his colleagues have not brought that “skill set” to Congress.

Schrader said he is a member of a “no labels” group, but that “moderates unfortunately get taken out.”

On immigration, Schrader said he is surprised that the issue is “on the table” even though in his own district “it is a no brainer.”

“My folks are dying back home,” Schrader said. “They can’t find workers.”

House Democrats will introduce a version of the Senate bill, but will replace the border provisions written by Sens. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., with an alternative that does not cost as much.

Schrader urged the fruit and vegetable growers and executives “to push the other side” because “it’s a hard issue for them.”

But Schrader said he did not think there should be an e-verify system until it works. “Otherwise you guys become the bad guys,” he said.

The big important bills have passed with Republican and Democratic votes, he said. “That’s what America wants.”

Members of United Fresh “who earn their living on the land” need to “be in the papers back home” speaking out on issues and defending members who vote for issues they care about.

“America is hurting right now,” Schrader said. “ We are living in a freakin’ tower of Oz here.”