Washington D.C., Day One
Sunday, March 23, 2025
Submitted by: Adam Jimison
KARL Travels to D.C.
KARL Class XVII embarked on it’s journey to the Nation’s Capital on Sunday, March 23rd. Divided into two travel groups leaving out of Kansas City and Wichita the group was excited for its week on the Hill and in Gettysburg.
The Kansas City group arrived mid-morning to a beautiful spring day in DC. The group quickly gathered their luggage and boarded the bus to the hotel to drop off items before taking in the City. The Wichita group would soon join them in the early afternoon after flying through DFW.
The KC group quickly divided into different groups heading out to see much of what the city offered. Some took time to walk through the National Museum of African American History and Culture while others took in sights like the National Archives and Smithsonian Natural History Museum. The Wichita group would soon join after lunch in the city and join the other Classmates exploring the city.
The Kansas State Women’s Basketball team was competing in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 against Kentucky which captured a large part of the groups attention in the mid-afternoon. After the game the group would convene at the Wharf for fellowship prior to our evening’s dinner and Monument’s tour.
The group ate dinner at Kirwan’s on the Wharf and had so much fun catching up. Our most recent session in February had been cancelled due to a snowstorm so we had not seen our classmates in a few weeks. After a great dinner at Kirwan’s the class boarded the bus for our Monuments by Moonlight tour.
We made stops at many of the monuments that DC has to offer including Lincoln, Vietnam Veterans, Capitol and many more. Our tour guide Kenny has been doing local tours of DC for 36 years and has his own YouTube channel. The tour offered our class a great first look at the impact that can be made in DC. We were very prepared for what the rest of the week would have in store.
Washington D.C., Day Two
Monday, March 24, 2025
Submitted by: Kaleb Horne
The Capitol’s iconic dome outlined a clear sky after an early morning rain. Following a brief walk, we began our day with a trip through security and a tour of the United States Capitol Building. During our tour we visited the “crypt” underneath the dome, the old House Chambers and a special recognition of each of Kansas’s sculptures- Amelia Earhart and Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower.
These 2 famous Kansans were placed in the Capitol to represent famous and well-liked Kansans. An interesting note- Kansas was the first state to replace a statue in the Capitol with the sculpture of Amelia Earhart being unveiled in July 2022 replacing former Kansas Senator John James Ingalls.
After completing our tour of the Capitol, we moved into the U.S. Capitol Visitor’s Center Senate meeting rooms to begin our meetings for the day. Our meeting agenda began with Gregg Doud former Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and is presently serving as the National Milk Producer’s Federation’s President and CEO.
Gregg gave us a deep dive on his history with the USTR and specifically Bob Lighthizer’s position on tariffs and trade. Gregg suggested that President Trump’s view of tariffs is an “access fee” to US consumers. This access fee is further viewed as an equalizer to foreign country’s industrial policies which have allegedly prevented trade balances between the United States and others.
Gregg in his recapping of trade policy also described the difficulty by which negotiations are done. He shared that negotiators and negotiations are extraordinarily tough. Our foreign trade partners are there for the same reasons we are- to get the best deal for their county.
After a brief break and lunch, Class XVII spent an hour with Riley Pagett as the Chief of Staff, Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Like Gregg Doud, tariffs were top of mind-but from a different angle. The USDA isn’t making trade deals but are rather clearing the path to open trade up in other countries.
Riley also shared details about his time as a Congressional Staffer for Congressman Tracy Mann (KS-01). Riley shared that his time with the Congressman was positive and he appreciates Tracy’s leadership, but felt a reluctant calling to move to the USDA & is now brand new to the job on the USDA staff for 2 weeks. His first tasks have been and will continue to be filling appointed positions within the USDA.
Following Riley’s time with us we met with American Farm Bureau Federation’s Director of Government Affairs, David Salmonsen. David shared a brief history of tariffs, reciprocal tariffs and other timely topics since inauguration day 2025.
An interesting note- of the 3 people that spoke on trade there was agreement on trade policy with respect to where we should pursue additional trade volume. In fact, Canada, Mexico, China, EU & Great Britain are all on the list to grow ag exports to. However, India was inconsistent between them all. A case could be made for India being a possible trade partner based on the staggering volume of potential consumers, but highly tempered with their own very protective industrial policy and a lack of disposable income as reasons to negotiate elsewhere and look at India as a lower priority.
Tom Donnelly also with the AFBF, joined us to share the best methods of telling our stories with members of Congress before we meet with them. His primary instructions were to tell a brief story that demonstrates why we have a policy request or position. He advocated that stories tend to be more memorable and are shared more widely than facts and figures without the story attached.
Last, but certainly not least, we met with U.S. Senator Jerry Moran’s Legislative Assistant- Chance Hunley. Regrettably, Senator Moran’s flight was delayed, but he left us in good hands with a fellow Kansas. He shared with us his background in both the House and the Senate. Chance continued sharing Senator Moran’s and the entire Senates immediate priorities.
Senator Moran would like to get a Farm Bill passed this year but recognizes that it is unlikely since budget reconciliation is Congress’s priority, closely followed by the Senate’s task of confirming appointed positions. Additionally, it was clear that Republicans are ambitious to get things accomplished over the next 2 years as they have the majority in the House and Senate as well as the Presidency (dubbed the “trifecta”).
Washington D.C., Day Three
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Submitted by: Juliana Whisman
Being in our nation’s capital with the KARL Program was quite the honor, especially as we were
able to see and visit places that were provided unique opportunities!
★ USDA Headquarters
★ National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
★ Visits to Kansas Representatives’ Offices
★ Meeting with Senator Roger Marshall
★ Dinner at the Capitol City Brewing Company
★ Cultural Experience: ‘Sister Act’ at Ford’s Theatre
Washington D.C & Gettysburg, Day Four
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Submitted by: Trevor Pederson
Canadian Embassy–The Canadian Embassy was really interesting to see how they say things and what they wanted to change in their teamwork with the United States. One thing the class was not aware of was how much agriculture was traded between both the United States and Canada.
Notes from this presentation:
– 80% of pigs are imported from Canada to Iowa to be fed out
– There is a lot of trading back and forth with the USA and Canada on any goods. The mass of it is on the Ag side of things.
– Most fruit is started in Canada and then sent down to the USA to be finished, and then the final goods are sent back to Canada
– Their Agriculture is very similar to the USA
– They are ready to sit down at the table to work on the trade deals with the USA but the USA will not come to the table
Eisenhower Memorial–Dwight D. Eisenhower’s legacy and contributions to our nation as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II and as the nation’s 34th president are represented in the memorial with heroic-sized bronze sculptures, stone bas reliefs, quotations from his most famous speeches and addresses, and a first-of-its-kind tapestry.
It was very interesting to see how the artist hid information throughout the memoir. For example, the big wall behind the Eisenhower Memorial is a sketch of the D-Day mountain that they had to climb over. Then, stages of his life are depicted throughout the journey. Eisenhower wrote a letter to all the men who were about to go into battle on D-Day. And a fun fact is that he talked about fishing to the men before they left for D day.
Visit with the EPA Office of Agriculture and rural Affairs (OARA) – It was very interesting to me they have the largest building in DC for a governmental office. They are getting ready for the E15 throughout the whole United States shortly. When we were getting presented to us, the lady was very interested in how we managed weeds and what herbicides we needed to use. She was also unaware of the change in herbicide mixes/rates from the northeastern side of Kansas to western Kansas. The main thing she talked about was atrazine.
We visited the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, a Think Tank working on many issues including trying to figure out how to make H2A and H2B workers come to the United States easier. They do not have a solution for it, but that is one of their goals for the next couple of years.
One advantage of using a Think Tank is being able to really think about things without rushing to get them submitted during the political season. Congressman Nigh, President of the think tank, personally thinks that politicians have changed the rules of the elections and the government, so it is restricted to people who have already served, and it is very difficult for new people and new ideas to be elected. What keeps him up at night is the fact that people are not focused on getting stuff done but kicking the can down the road.
Debrief for the DC trip was conducted on the bus from DC to Gettysburg. People were concerned about having more information about the speakers and/or what we were supposed to get out of our meetings to ask more intelligent questions. We were trying to learn how to ask better questions and paint better pictures of what we were learning to create questions.
To view the Class XVII scribe notes from the Gettysburg Leadership Experience, click here.
