The Senate Agriculture Committee hears today from representatives from major agricultural sectors on the health of the farm economy. The hearing, which will feature almost a dozen witnesses, comes as farmers grapple with multiple economic threats.
Among the witnesses spread across two panels are American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall, National Farmers Union President Rob Larew, as well as figures from across the cotton, soybean, corn, wheat, barley, sorghum, peanut, rice and sugar industries.
The hearing lands amid slipping farm earnings estimates, heightened tariff threats, supply chain woes and rising input costs. Falling crop prices and increased competition for U.S. crops in international markets also are squeezing U.S. farmers. Congressional inaction on a new farm bill and the looming expiration of the 2017 tax cuts are driving additional concerns.
Larew, for example, will outline “opportunities for the 119th Congress,” including for a new farm bill, NFU says. He also plans to discuss the need for fair markets, country-of-origin labeling, tariffs and the expansion of conservation programs.
Read this week’s Agri-Pulse newsletter for the latest on bird flu, and the turmoil engulfing food aid programs at USAID.
House returns without specific reconciliation plan
The House returned Tuesday after a GOP policy conference in Florida last week, where members aimed to finalize plans on budget reconciliation.
Implementing additional work requirements for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has emerged as a possible pay-for in the reconciliation bill. However, House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., said Republicans haven’t settled on specifics yet.
Thompson said he’s expecting his committee to get instructions but those have not come down from leadership yet. He said he’s working actively with the Budget Committee chair, Senate majority leader and speaker of the House.
“I think we've pretty much so far limited discussion to improving program integrity,” Thompson said of SNAP. He said lawmakers aren’t talking about “cutting any benefits.”
RFK Jr. now faces uncertain vote in full Senate
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is eyeing next week for the full chamber’s vote on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
“We’ll see where things land,” Thune told CNN Tuesday. “We’ll continue to have conversations with our colleagues.”
The full Senate confirmation vote is the last hurdle for Kennedy, whose nomination was reported favorably out of the Senate Finance Committee in a 14-13 vote on Tuesday. The panel vote was split on party lines.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., was considered the panel’s key swing vote. He ultimately voted with his party to advance Kennedy. Later during a floor speech, Cassidy said he received commitments that the two would have an “unprecedentedly” close, collaborative working relationship if confirmed.
This would include meeting or speaking multiple times a month. Additionally, Cassidy said Kennedy asked the senator to provide input on non-confirmable positions within HHS.
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Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, are considered possible “no” votes. If those three join all 47 Democrats in voting against Kennedy, then the 50-50 tie would be broken by Vice President JD Vance.
Navarro: U.S. not in a trade war, but won’t rule out more tariffs
A senior White House trade official says the Trump administration is not in a trade war yet, despite the U.S. and China exchanging new tariffs on each other’s exports.
“This is not a trade war,” Peter Navarro, Trump’s senior counsel for trade and manufacturing said multiple times at an event hosted by Politico. “This is a drug war.”
The U.S. imposed a new 10% duty on imports from China Tuesday, ostensibly over its inaction to curb fentanyl production. Navarro refused to rule out further tariff hikes – including a universal tariff, which some see as a potential tax cut pay-for.
The administration, Navarro said, is studying what he called “the damages” of the U.S. trade deficit. “The president will figure out what to do about that,” Navarro said.
Of note: At the same event, Ways and Means trade subcommittee Chair Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said he’s “uneasy” with the idea of accepting higher tariffs in exchange for lower income taxes.
“The most successful tariff is one that doesn't generate any revenue,” but levels the playing field for U.S. companies, Smith said.
Roth selected to lead Commerce telecom office
Arielle Roth, the current telecommunications policy director for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is Trump’s pick to oversee the deployment of $42 billion in rural broadband funding.
Roth, who will lead the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, has in the past been critical of the Biden administration’s implementation of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, the largest broadband program in the nation’s history.
At a Federalist Society Event last year, Roth said the Biden Administration was “putting up all kinds of burdens that deter participation in the program and drive up costs."
The National FFA Organization hosted a briefing on building an AI-ready workforce and sustaining American competitiveness through agricultural education in the House Ag Committee room. Briefing panelists from L to R: Mary Snapp, vice president of strategic initiatives at Microsoft; Dakota Stroud, agriculture educator and FFA adviser at Signal Knob Middle School in Virginia; Chloe Bomgardner, Pennsylvania State FFA President; Scott Stump, CEO of the National FFA Organization and National FFA Foundation; and Marti Skold-Jordan, executive director of Tractor Supply Company Foundation.
Appleton nominated to USDA conservation post
USDA has a new deputy undersecretary for farm production and conservation, according to a source familiar with her hiring. Brooke Appleton, who was chief of staff to the deputy agriculture secretary for more than a year during the first Trump administration, has been appointed to the position.
Appleton has been vice president of public policy for the National Corn Growers Association for the past six years. She will support Richard Fordyce, who has been nominated to be USDA undersecretary for farm production and conservation. Fordyce’s nomination must be confirmed by the Senate.
Read more here on our website.
Final word:
Ways and Means trade subcommittee Ranking Member Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., said Tuesday that Congress needs to reassert its oversight over U.S. trade policy. Her comments come the same day Trump used emergency presidential powers to impose new duties on China.
“Giving the president unchecked power… is a recipe for disaster,” Sanchez said. “We really do need Congress to step up and to reassert our jurisdiction in that area.”
