Angie Craig, D-Minn., the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, says the $12 billion farmer aid package is just a temporary fix for the farm economy unless President Donald Trump changes his trade policy.
"The administration has called this a bridge. Where's the bridge? This is more like a circle,” Craig says on this week’s Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.
"We want to eliminate the need for payments in the future. But to do that, you're going to have to end the trade war,” she says.
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins said in announcing the aid on Monday that the Farmer Bridge Assistance program will usher in a new “golden age” where famers won’t need government assistance.
Craig also criticized the administration’s shifting timeline for Chinese soybean purchases.
"The goalposts keep changing. I mean, it's getting kind of ridiculous."
This week’s Newsmakers will be available today at Agri-Pulse.com.
For the latest on Chinese soybean purchases, check out our soybean tracker here.
Senate lets Affordable Care Act subsidies expire.
Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn. (AP photo)
The Senate rejected two separate bills extending expiring Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, meaning about 22 million Americans will see their healthcare premiums increase.
In some cases those increases will be substantial. KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation, estimates that expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits will mean that monthly premium payments will more than double.
A Republican bill would have provided $1,000 to $1,500 to enrollees in place of extending the enhanced subsidies. A Democratic bill would have extended the subsidies for three years.
KFF says 27% of farmers get their insurance on the individual market, which is mostly composed of the ACA Marketplaces.
Senators call for swift avian flu vaccine strategy
A bipartisan group of senators wants the administration to swiftly finalize its avian flu vaccine strategy, while working closely with affected industries.
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More than 20 senators led by Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., wrote to Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday stressing the need for a comprehensive vaccine strategy. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., also signed on.
A finalized vaccine strategy, they argued, should:
- Consider feedback from industry and animal health experts.
- Be grounded in science.
- Address all impacted species.
- Work with other countries to manage any trade impacts.
Take note: The administration’s avian flu strategy published in February includes a commitment to solicit feedback and develop a pathway to a vaccine. Deputy Ag Secretary Stephen Vaden told Agri-Pulse last week that the administration is talking to trade partners about their potential reaction to a vaccine rollout.
Countries, including the U.S., have previously restricted imports from places that have vaccinated poultry over concerns it could mask the virus and inhibit detection.
“We certainly don't want to do anything that's going to result in greater harm to our poultry sector,” Vaden said. “That's why conversations have to come first.”
The spread continues: According to USDA data, the virus has been detected in 107 total flocks and affected 1.15 million birds in the last 30 days. Indiana is being hit the hardest, with a total of 58 flocks and 828,800 birds affected.
Legislation would revive biodiesel blenders’ tax credit
Truck stops, convenience stores, fuel retailers and heating oil dealers are rallying behind a bill to bring back a tax credit they say would revive demand for U.S. soybeans.
A bill introduced this week by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, would reinstate the Biodiesel Blenders’ Tax Credit (BTC) for six months through May 31, 2026. Taxpayers could choose between claiming it or the 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit that replaced the BTC this year.
Biofuel producers are waiting on 45Z rules from the Trump administration. Makers of biodiesel, widely made with soybeans, say lack of clarity on the credit has severely hurt production.
"The BTC would increase demand for soybeans immediately," said David Fialkov, executive vice president of government affairs for the truck stop group NATSO and the fuel retailer group SIGMA.
Joe Jobe, who heads the Sustainable Advanced Biofuel Refiners, a biodiesel trade organization, says the measure would give the industry “desperately needed relief".
More content from Agri-Pulse: Ag tech video series
Agri-Pulse has posted the third segment of our four-part series about agricultural technology, which looks at the regulatory, labor and financial challenges for modern agriculture, especially specialty crop producers.
The latest episode examines how state regulations are hampering specialty crop producers’ efforts to use ag tech automation to supplement a diminishing labor supply. It also focuses on ag tech developers’ difficulties in securing venture capital to turn research into reality in Rural America.
Final word
"Right now it’s very difficult to put a timeline to [a U.S.-India deal] because we all know very well by now, I think, through multiple rounds of conversations, most of the trade-related issues have been sorted out.... I’d be surprised if we don’t have a deal sealed by the end of the financial year. I was anticipating – I was hoping, rather – that something would be done by the end of November, but it has turned out to be elusive." -- India’s Chief Economic Advisor, V. Anantha Nageswaran during an interview with Bloomberg TV Thursday. (edited)
Kim Chipman, Oliver Ward and Noah Wicks contributed to today’s Daybreak.
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