The bipartisan tax bill is headed to the Senate with some serious momentum behind it. The House approved the measure 357-70 Wednesday night, overcoming some opposition on both ends of the political spectrum.
The package would among other things increase limits for the Section 179 expensing allowance, restore 100% bonus depreciation through 2025 and increase the child tax credit.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers welcomed passage of the bill, which also would restore immediate expensing for research and development. The bill “will help equipment manufacturers invest in their communities, grow their businesses, and hire more Americans,” AEM said.
Looking ahead: Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, assured reporters the measure would pass the Senate. “All kinds of people would like to make changes to it, but it’s too late for that. We’ve got a bill, we’ve got it negotiated, we’re going to pass it,” he said.
NCBA preparing for big tax policy education push
The upcoming expiration of many of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions has the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association gearing up to tackle the issue on Capitol Hill.
Among the efforts is a producer survey that launched last year and has more than 730 responses thus far. Aside from standard questions about succession planning, bonus depreciation and other aspects of the tax code, the survey also includes an open-ended box for respondents to enter their own experiences with the estate tax, something lobbyists said has already come in handy in several Hill meetings.
Why it matters: The TCJA’s increase in the estate tax provision expires next year along with reduced individual tax rates and a deduction for small business income.
Kent Bacus, an executive director on NCBA’s policy staff, pointed out the organization is going to need “all hands on deck” on tax policy next year, given the inexperience of Congress on the issue. NCBA is holding its annual convention this week in Orlando.
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Califf worries about a flat budget at FDA
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf says his agency will face some difficult choices, if Congress doesn’t increase its funding for fiscal 2024. Lawmakers have until March 1 to reach agreement on funding the agency.
“If the budget is flat, given our inflationary pay increases that have already been approved, that means we're going to have to look for offsetting reductions in [other] activities,” Califf said Wednesday on a webinar organized by Alliance for a Strong FDA.
“Our money is spent on employees doing work that the public depends on, so we can't just stop contracts or grants that are going externally, we've got to deal with our own internal staff in this regard.”
On food issues, Califf said, “We have two goals this year that are just very clear: Get front-of-package labeling and define the term ‘healthy.’”
House members form agricultural trade caucus
Four House members, two from each party, have organized a new caucus that will be focused on “boosting agricultural exports, facilitating food and agriculture trade, and knocking down unnecessary trade barriers.”
Reps. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., Jim Costa, D-Calif., Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., are co-chairing the Congressional Agricultural Trade Caucus, which seeks to “solidify support” for agriculture-focused trade policies among lawmakers.
“The bipartisan Agriculture Trade Caucus was founded to ensure the farmers and ranchers in our districts and throughout the country are prioritized in our nation’s overall trade agenda,” Panetta says in a release. “Together, we are committed to ensuring new trade agreements are enforceable, high-standard deals that ensure fairness and expand new markets for the immense bounty our country produces.”
Milk pricing debate moves to next stage
Members of the U.S. dairy industry are preparing to finalize their arguments to USDA on possible changes to federal milk marketing orders. USDA’s marathon hearing on the issue wrapped up this week after being in session for 49 days since kicking off in August.
Industry groups will now have until April 1 to file post-hearing briefs with USDA, and then the department will prepare a recommended decision.
Take note: The American Farm Bureau Federation this week has appealed to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack to issue an emergency order restoring the pricing formula for fluid milk to the way it was before the 2018 farm bill. “It is our understanding that the secretary has the ability to make an earlier, emergency-based final decision, if he deems it sufficient,” AFBF economist Danny Munch told Agri-Pulse.
By the way: Several dozen dairy producers testified during the hearing, some in person and many virtually, Munch says.
EPA adds hearing on meat, poultry discharge proposal
EPA will hold another public hearing to gather feedback on its proposal to reduce pollution from meat and poultry processing plants.
At a hearing in Washington Wednesday, agency officials said the March 20 hearing will be virtual. The agency also is considering extending the comment period on the proposal, but EPA it is unlikely to hold hearings in affected communities, an agency official said on the sidelines of Wednesday’s meeting.
What they said: Jon Elrod of Darling Ingredients, which recycles animal byproducts and used cooked oil, told EPA officials Wednesday the proposed regulations “could make it impossible for some facilities to continue to operate.”
But Environmental Integrity Project attorney Sarah Kula said EPA decided against proposing the most stringent of three options because it conflicted with the Biden administration’s goal of expanding and diversifying the meat industry.
He said it. “I’d say there’s an appetite in the Senate to get this done.” — Senate Agriculture Committee member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on a bipartisan bill that would tighten the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, a 1978 law that requires USDA to collect data on foreign landholdings.
