While some questions remain,
Tuesday’s election made it clear that both the Senate and the House will be
firmly in the hands of Republicans when the next Congress is seated in January
2015. Will this mean improved cooperation or increased polarization between a
Democratic President and a united Republican legislature? And what changes can
agriculture expect?
In exit interviews and anecdotal
conversations, the American people have stated clearly that they want their
elected representatives and their President to work together to get things
done. They expressed their resounding dissatisfaction with both political
parties’ contributions to the governmental gridlock that too closely mirrors
the traffic tie-ups on the capitol’s crowded highways and streets.
Moving forward must mean an
increased willingness to compromise, to serve national rather than narrow
interests, to find areas of agreement, to govern jointly rather than by passing
partisan bills or issuing executive orders. In fact, we may get a fair idea of
how the President intends to work with the new Congress in the way the
remaining appropriations bills move through the pipeline this fall, while
Democrats still hold the majority in the Senate.
During the final two years of
President Clinton’s administration, we saw him shift his policies more towards the
center, which made compromise possible. In contrast, President Obama has moved
increasingly leftward since his re-election in 2012. Will he now make a similar
move toward the majority of Americans who label themselves moderates? I am
hopeful he will see the wisdom in this strategy even though yesterday’s Washington Post reports that the
President’s aides declared he “plans to assert his veto power on issues he
feels strongly about, such as Obamacare.” However, the Post also reported he’d only used that veto twice thus far during
his presidency.
Of course, one of the bright
spots of collaboration during the past 20 years of increasing polarization has
been agriculture. While other legislation remained stalled in controversy or
dead on arrival at one or the other side of the Capitol, farm bills have been eventually
cobbled together through the hard work of legislators from both sides of the
aisle.
No major pieces of legislation
affecting agriculture are pending, but future appropriations bills will likely
contain more restrictions on spending. We’ll have new committee chairs as re-elected
Senator Pat Roberts indicated he expects to head the Senate Ag Committee and Representative
Frank Lucas reaches the end of his six-year term limit as House Ag chair when
the current Congress is replaced.
What lies ahead? I think we’ll
see more oversight hearings on the implementation of the current farm
bill. There will be more tough questions
for USDA agency heads about their management of programs and stewardship of
resources. This is not about controversies in the law but about how rapidly and
effectively 2014 Farm Bill programs are being implemented.
If EPA does not make the smart
move and withdraw, reform or delay its “waters of the U.S.” rule, I think there
will be brutal oversight hearings on that.
Insistence upon maintaining that rule as is could easily lead to
appropriations riders prohibiting enforcement of it.
We could also see a review of
country of origin labeling. After the World Trade Organization called the COOL
rule discriminatory against imports from Canada and Mexico, USDA published a
revised rule, which WTO said did not solve the problem but actually made it
worse. Much of agriculture would also like to see that rule reformed to avoid
trade sanctions. The Administration is leaning toward appealing the WTO ruling,
but it’s possible the new Congress will get involved as well.
One positive note is that trade
agreements may move more swiftly through Congress, benefiting agriculture by
opening or expanding markets in the Pacific Rim and Europe. That’s good news.
More than any other time during
the 30 years I’ve been involved in agricultural policy work, I believe we are
entering an era where farmers will be increasingly responding to market forces
rather than government programs or regulations. The risks and opportunities
producers will be facing will focus primarily on developing new markets and new
products. Unimpeded by trade barriers, American agriculture will prove
competitive in the world marketplace, and consumers here and abroad will reap
the benefits.
Change is on the horizon. The
American people have made their choices. But only if our legislators and our President
choose to engage honestly and find areas of agreement can we pull together
rather than let our differences push us farther apart.
About the author: Bruce I. Knight, Principal,
Strategic Conservation Solutions, was the Under Secretary for Marketing and
Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 2006 to
2009. From 2002 to 2006, Knight served as Chief of Natural Resources
Conservation Service. The South Dakota native worked on Capitol Hill for Senate
Majority Leader Bob Dole, Rep. Fred Grandy, Iowa, and Sen. James Abdnor, South
Dakota. In addition, Knight served as vice president for public policy for the
National Corn Growers Association and also worked for the National Association
of Wheat Growers. A third-generation rancher and farmer and lifelong
conservationist, Knight operates a diversified grain and cattle operation using
no-till and rest rotation grazing systems
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