Host Joel Heitkamp visits with Congressman Peterson about ongoing agriculture issues and his no vote on impeachment.

With agriculture conditions being extremely wet during the growing and harvest season, farmers across the Midwest are struggling more than ever. Due to the difficult conditions and ongoing challenges, state leaders in both ND and MN have been touring across the state they represent, visiting with constituents and hearing them tell their stories about what they need to make it through this season. As Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Congressman Collin Peterson understands the struggles better than most and host Joel Heitkamp visits with the Congressman about the agriculture concerns he's hearing from farmers in the 7th District of MN.

"It's been a tough year and it's just been one thing after another," says Congressman Peterson. "I don't think there's going to be any good outcome for this year, and it finally froze over so maybe we can get through these wet fields but now the question is how much snow will we get, we'll just have to wait and see how all this turns out."

Congressman Peterson tells Heitkamp that the disaster relief money was limited to $3 billion and they are unsure if it's going to be enough money to get to farmers that need it most. He further explains that there are a lot of moving parts but hopefully, they will get some better answers in the coming days.

Switching gears, Heitkamp visits with Congressman Peterson about his most recent no vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on an official impeachment inquiry, as he was only one of two Democrats to break ranks with the rest of the Democrats in the House. Although the Congressman has not officially announced his re-election campaign, he faces a tough road ahead with 5 Republican candidates who are eyeing his seat. When asked by Heitkamp whether or not the Congressman plans to run for re-election, Peterson says he doesn't want to kick off things too soon.

"I will decide when I normally do in January or February of next year but I've been doing the things I normally do, I just don't want this campaign to start too quickly," says Congressman Peterson. "I don't want this to get this started too soon because all that's going to happen is having the Republican National Committee beat me up."

Breaking ranks with House Democrats was a decision Congressman Peterson says he was comfortable making and further tells Heitkamp that he doesn't like the way this impeachment inquiry process has been handled by House leadership.

"I just wasn't comfortable with how this has been handled," says Congressman Peterson. "The way they handled Mueller was bad and it was part of what divided the country and it upset my constituents."

Congressman Peterson mentions specifically Representative Schiff holding many meetings behind closed doors and how now, the public doesn't trust anything that the Democrats are doing in regards to the impeachment process. As a Congressman in a highly conservative district, Peterson maintains that there needs to be bipartisan support.

"I don't believe we should be doing this if there isn't Republican support and I think it's just a mistake," says Congressman Peterson. "Unless we get more information, and so far that hasn't happened and even support for impeachment has slipped since this started. I don't see this coming together in a bipartisan way and I think the last thing we need is something like this to further divide the country, I'm very comfortable with what I did."

Finally, Heitkamp asks the Congressman whether or not he believes that a President of the United States enlisting the help of a foreign country is wrong.

"Well it's wrong, but I don't know if it's impeachable and Republicans apparently don't think it is," says Congressman Peterson. "What I'm hearing from everyone is thank you for voting against this B.S. and that's what everyone in my district is calling it. I haven't decided whether or not I will vote yes or no on impeachment if it ever comes to that but right now, I wouldn't be in favor or it if we don't have more Republican support. I don't think the President should have been doing what he was doing but I'm not sure if that rises to high crimes."

(Joel Heitkamp is a talk show host on the Mighty 790 KFGO in Fargo-Moorhead. His award-winning program, News & Views, can be heard weekdays from 8 11 a.m. Follow Joel on Twitter @JoelKFGO.)

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Congressman Collin Peterson explains impeachment vote: "I don't believe we should be doing this without Republican support." - KFGO News