McConnell says courts will decide Trump DOE efforts while promoting ag bill

FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) — Kentucky’s senior senator was in Lexington on Thursday to meet with agriculture leaders on protecting Kentucky’s farmland.

“I think we can begin to fight back against the loss of farms,” Sen. Mitch McConnell said at a panel discussion with members of the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, the state Department of Agriculture, and the Kentucky Farm Bureau.

Although McConnell may have closed the chapter on his time in leadership, he still maintains his longtime seat on the Senate’s agriculture committee.

Thursday’s meeting was part of McConnell’s effort to promote “The Protecting American Farmlands Act.” McConnell’s bill could exempt farmers from capital gains taxes if farmland being sold goes to another agricultural producer. The bill’s goal would be to slow down the rapid decline in Kentucky’s available farmland.

“That five-year period from 2017 to 2022. In Kentucky alone, we lost 6,500 farms, and we lost over 500,000 acres of farmland in five years,” Kentucky Farm Bureau Eddie Melton said.

“As opposed to the normal tax you’d pay, you’d get a capital gains treatment, which is less if you keep it in a demonstrable farm family. Makes a lot of sense,” McConnell said.

As McConnell faced the cameras, he also shared his opinion on some of the national news of the day and recent actions of the Trump administration.

“I’m not a fan of tariffs,” McConnell said. He explained that despite his disagreement on the Trump approach to economic policy, he said tariffs are the White House’s power to wield and prices will be the judge.

On this week’s news of a major reduction or complete elimination of the Department of Education, McConnell said a majority of the reorganization efforts will be “defined in the courts.”

“I’m just going to wait, and like all of us in effect, are going to wait and see whether this is permissible or not,” McConnell said.

When pressed to share whether he supported the Department of Education elimination plan, McConnell responded that he believes it’s a good idea to reduce government spending, but did not go into specifics.

McConnell did not give any indication of how he may vote if the effort to dissolve the Department of Education is brought to Congress.