Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.
BISMARCK, N.D. — Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said here Saturday he will not introduce a bill to ban state labeling of genetically modified foods without a Democratic cosponsor.

In the question-and-answer period of a speech to the Independent Beef Association of North Dakota, Hoeven said, “We are working on a bill draft. It has to have bipartisan cosponsorship.”

Hoeven added that he has to be “confident” the bill will pass before he introduces it.

Told that some advocates of the labeling ban have said Hoeven plans introduce the bill after the Senate Agriculture Committee holds a hearing on biotechnology on October 21 whether he has a Democratic cosponsor or not, Hoeven said, “I have told you my approach.”

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., who has repeatedly declined to co-sponsor the bill, told The Hagstrom Report that polls in North Dakota show that voters will favor what consumers say they want.

Consumer polls have favored labeling, although opponents of state labels have said the answers in those polls depend on how questions are asked and how informed the consumers are.

Hoeven also said that Congress is unlikely to extend Section 179, a bonus depreciation measure that farmers use when they buy equipment, until the end of the year and only for one year.

He said it is hard for Congress to undertake tax reform while the Obama administration is in power “because the administration wants to raise taxes.”

Hoeven said he expects Section 179 to be extended again in 2016 and that tax reform including simplification is more likely in 2017 depending on who is president. Congress has to be careful about tax reform to avoid inadvertently raising taxes on small business, he said.

On House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, stepping down, Hoeven said he is “pretty certain” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is going to be speaker. Hoeven said he doesn’t know “how different” McCarthy would be from Boehner, but that the main changes in the House will depend on who moves up to other House leadership positions and committee chairmanships that may result from the change at top.

Asked about the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump, Hoeven said only, “It’s been interesting.”

He said he will be more interested in discussing the race when the Republicans get down to one candidate.

“We all need to get behind that person and we need to win,” Hoeven said. “I don’t know who it is going to be … to make the kind of changes you want to make, I want to make, we have to have a Republican president.”