The proposed Farm Bill is out of the Agriculture Committee and set for debate in the House of Representatives. Osborne said the committee felt that with farmers struggling it was important to get a new Farm Bill this year, even though it wasnt scheduled until 2002.

An element of the bill that Osborne said is important is one that would eliminate emergency payments and replace them with countercyclical payments made if the price of a crop falls below set targets.

"Theres a strong feeling that we cant continue to rely on emergency payments," said Osborne, who was in Scottsbluff Monday. "After a while, an emergency is no longer an emergency. The countercyclical payment would serve as that emergency payment if the price falls below those targets.

"Under this plan, the farmer has a better idea of where he stands with his crop when he plants it."

While the Farm Bill is not a "done deal by any means," Osborne said he hopes it gets done this fall, so it can be in place quickly.

The Patients Bill of Rights has moved through the House and is set for debate by the Senate, and Osborne said he was pleased with the plan that was approved. The proposal provides the right to file lawsuits against HMOs, but provides a liability cap and the case has to go through arbitration before a suit can be filed. Another proposal would have put no limits on patients rights to sue.

"In the Third District, we didnt want any higher insurance rates," Osborne said. "If there had been an unlimited ceiling, those costs would have been passed on through higher insurance rates."

Osborne would like to see a proposal approved that would allow the President "fast-track trade negotiating." Osborne said the U.S. has fallen behind in foreign trade in part because countries know that they have to go through the procedures with Congress to get any agreement made. Enabling the President to make agreements would speed up the process and make it more appealing to other countries. Most labor groups, Osborne said, oppose the plan, but farmers are generally in favor of it. Of 139 existing trade agreements, the United States only participates in two, Osborne said.

While he said he is unsure whether the House would get to the issues of Medicaid reform and Social Security reform this year, Osborne said he did expect to see some sort of prescription drug benefit reform. He said U.S. companies are doing much of the research and work on new drugs, but the price of drugs remains high in this country.

"There are a lot of people on Medicare in the Third District," Osborne said. "I know for a lot of those people, their Social Security check is really being eaten up by their prescription drug costs."

An education bill should be coming soon, and Osborne said a mentoring component that he put on the bill was still there as far as he knows.

"Well know in the next two weeks whether it survives," he said. "If it passes through, I know the President will sign it, because he is very much interested in programs such as mentoring for young people."

Approving the ANWAR plan was a solid measure for the country, Osborne said, in spite of complaints from environmental groups.

"Currently, we are so dependent on foreign oil," Osborne said. "OPEC doesnt particularly like us, so any time they decide to shut the spigot off or if theres a war in the Middle East, were just out of luck."

For that reason, Osborne said he thinks the U.S. should drill to find more oil, and he believes that can be done without a lot of environmental impact.

He said the Presidents energy bill is another step in the process toward reducing dependence on foreign oil by increasing domestic energy production.

"Its a good thing first of all because it is a plan, which we havent had before," Osborne said. "Its a plan that calls for conservation. It calls for additional fuels ethanol, wind and solar and it also calls for exploration."

President Bush last week made a controversial announcement regarding federal funding for stem cell research. Osborne said Bushs announcement "struck a pretty good balance" in that research on stem cell lines can go forward without destroying viable embryos.

"I am pro-life," Osborne said, "and I do believe that an embryo is the most basic, elemental form of life. I do not believe in the destruction of embryos. ...

"Its important to point out that this does not prohibit private research involving embryos. The thing is that you have to be really careful when youre talking about using government funds to promote the destruction of what most people feel is a human being."

Another measure that the U.S. will prohibit is human cloning. A measure recently passed to put a stiff fine on the procedure to prevent it in the country before it started.

"As far as I know, research indicates, whether it be in a human or in sheep, that there is an awful lot of risk and an awful lot of abnormalities," Osborne said. "Its a pretty risky venture that a great many people dont want to see science go into."