Lawmakers have until Friday to pass the first of their fiscal 2024 spending bills, including the measure needed to fund USDA and FDA, or they’ll have to pass another stopgap spending measure to avert a partial shutdown of the government.
Friday also is the Biden administration’s self-imposed deadline for announcing a critical update of the GREET model that’s used to measure the carbon intensity of biofuels. The update could determine whether corn ethanol will be eligible for new tax subsidies for sustainable jet fuel.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who has been assuring lawmakers and audiences that the update will accommodate ethanol that’s produced with climate-smart practices, will be joined by EPA Administrator Michael Regan on Friday in Houston at Commodity Classic, the annual meeting and trade show for grain and oilseed groups and the farm equipment industry.
House GOP leaders, who continue to struggle to unite the fractious Republican conference, have scheduled action this week on FY24 funding legislation. But Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., warned colleagues Sunday that congressional leaders had missed a goal of having a measure ready before Monday.
“While we had hoped to have legislation ready this weekend that would give ample time for members to review the text, it is clear now that House Republicans need more time to sort themselves out,” Schumer wrote.
“With the uncertainty of how the House will pass the appropriations bills and avoid a shutdown this week, I ask all Senators to keep their schedules flexible, so we can work to ensure a pointless and harmful lapse in funding doesn’t occur.”
Schumer said a shutdown of USDA would “threaten vital food support programs for women and children and block critical loans to American farmers, threatening increased food prices for all Americans.”
Under the latest continuing resolution, enacted in January, departments and agencies covered by the Agriculture, Energy-Water, Transportation-HUD and Military Construction measures are funded through Friday. Departments and agencies covered by the remaining eight FY24 bills are funded through March 8. The Agriculture bill covers the Food and Drug Administration as well as USDA.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has been under heavy pressure from hard-line conservatives to demand that Senate Democrats and the White House agree to several partisan policy riders.
In a letter to Johnson last week, House Freedom Caucus members listed a series of policy issues they wanted addressed, including a ban on “purchases of American farmland by our adversaries like China.” The letter suggested the Freedom Caucus would prefer a yearlong continuing resolution, which could result in automatic, governmentwide spending cuts, than see Johnson give in to Democratic demands.
Anti-hunger advocates and food industry lobbyists have been pushing back on a possible agreement that would allow a five-state pilot program to restrict food choices under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. As part of a deal, Democrats would get an increase in funding for the Women, Infants and Children nutrition assistance program.
Among the groups raising concerns about the possible SNAP restrictions is the FMI-The Food Industry Association, which represents major grocery chains.
“We support incentives and greater access to our increasing number of dietitians/nutritionists to help customers make informed food purchasing decisions, rather than imposing penalties or restrictions,” said Jennifer Hatcher, FMI’s chief policy officer, said in a statement to Agri-Pulse.
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“FMI is also participating in a technical working group that USDA is coordinating to outline the range of foundational work that would need to be done by USDA and their contractors should they want to design pilots focused on encouraging the purchase of nutrient-dense foods for SNAP customers. The complexity of the issues facing the current technical working group show that any pilots need to be thoughtfully designed and demonstrate that USDA already has this work ongoing,” Hatcher said.
Another issue that’s been dogging talks over the FY24 Agriculture bill, is a proposed GOP restriction on the abortion drug mifepristone.
Despite the thorny policy issues, Ellen Teller, chief government relations officer for the Food Research and Action Center, said she believes lawmakers will reach agreement on the FY24 spending bills rather than pass a continuing resolution that would run to the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.
“I think there is an underlying desire to get these bills done and let them start on FY25” funding bills, she said.
The House will also take up some relatively non-controversial bills this week, including the SBA Rural Performance Report Act sponsored by Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo. The measure would require the Small Business Administration to report on its use of its Office of Rural Affairs to help rural businesses and on what the agency accomplished under a 2018 memorandum of understanding with USDA. The MOU expired last spring.
Also this week, Vilsack heads back to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to testify before the Senate Agriculture Committee. He appeared before the House Ag Committee earlier this month and sparred with GOP lawmakers over the focus he has put on small- and mid-size farms. Republicans accused him of ignoring the farms that produce most of the nation’s food.
Defending himself, Vilsack said it was “important for us to reset the notion that the only option in American agriculture is to get big or get out. It's time for us to do better for our small and mid-sized farming operations … that are surviving for the most part by taking a second job.”
Vilsack’s committee appearances are taking place against the backdrop of a partisan stalemate over funding a new farm bill. Both sides are accusing the other of refusing to compromise. Vilsack has pushed back on GOP proposals to fund farm program expansions through cuts to nutrition spending or reallocation of conservation funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
He’s floated the idea of tapping USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation spending authority to fund some type of support for farmers in times of declining commodity markets and elevated input costs. So far, Republicans have shown little interest in the concept.
Here is a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EDT):
Monday, Feb. 26 — AFFI Frozen Food Convention, San Diego, CA. Feb. 24-27, International Sweetener Colloquium, Aventura, Fl., Feb. 25 -28 and the National Potato Council’s annual Washington Summit, Feb. 26 — March 1
Tuesday, Feb. 27 — International Sweetener Colloquium, Aventura, Fl., Feb. 25 -28.
Time to be determined — Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee meeting to consider the nomination of Julie Su to be secretary of labor, S-127.
1 p.m. — Brookings Institution online forum, “Meeting Climate Goals Through Tax Reform.”
2 p.m. — Farm Foundation forum, “Seeds of Change: Exploring AI Solutions for Agriculture Today and Tomorrow.”
Wednesday, Feb. 28
Commodity Classic, through Saturday, Houston.
Time to be determined — Senate Agriculture Committee hearing with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, 328A Russell.
10 a.m. — Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing for the nominations of Daniel B. Maffei and Rebecca F. Dye to be members of the Federal Maritime Commission, 253 Russell.
10 a.m. — Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act and Army Corps of Engineers projects, 406 Dirksen.
Ambassador Katherine Tai, Deputy United States Trade Representative María Pagán and Chief Agricultural Negotiator Doug McKalip will be in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from February 26 - March 1 for the World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference.
Thursday, Feb. 29
8:30 a.m. — USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report.
Friday, March 1
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
