WASHINGTON, June 22, 2016 - The administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency, Gina McCarthy, is back on Capitol Hill today
for another grilling by Republican lawmakers on a range of issues. Agri-Pulse is
told that members of the House
Science, Space and Technology Committee will be questioning her in
part about the agency's review of glyphosate herbicide.
Committee Chairman Lamar Smith recently wrote McCarthy,
demanding interviews with four agency officials about her agency’s role in the
World Health Organization's deliberations over the safety of glyphosate. WHO's
International Agency for Research on Cancer used in making its decision that
the herbicide could cause cancer.
Smith, R-Texas, wanted to know what influence EPA had on
deliberations by WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in its
finding that glyphosate probably causes cancer.
Also today, officials from EPA and the Energy Information
Administration will testify at a hearing on
implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard. EPA’s Janet McCabe will tell the
House Energy and Commerce subcommittee that the proposed 2017 mandates will
“drive increased production and use of renewable fuel.”
Roberts, Stabenow closing in on biotech deal. Senate
Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts is expressing confidence that he will reach an
agreement with his committee’s ranking Democrat, Debbie Stabenow, on biotech
labeling. He isn’t guaranteeing that a deal can pass both chambers of Congress
before the House leaves this week for its Independence Day break.
In a statement to Agri-Pulse late yesterday
afternoon, Roberts said that the senators are “working overtime and are closer
than ever to reaching a bipartisan deal, but we’re not there yet.”
Southerners fish for inspection backing. Lawmakers who
want to keep the catfish inspection program at USDA are trying to head off a
House vote on the issue. A group of the program’s supporters led by Arkansas
Rep. Rick Crawford is holding a news conference today to make the case that
it’s an issue of consumer safety.
Some 180 House members who oppose the program have signed a
letter calling for a House vote on a resolution that has already passed the
Senate. But Mississippi sources say they’ve been assured by GOP leaders that
the issue won’t come up for a vote this summer.
For more on the biotech negotiations, the catfish fight and
other issues, be sure and read this week’s Agri-Pulse newsletter.
Scuse says Cuba measure big for trade. USDA’s
acting deputy secretary, Michael Scuse, says that legislation added
to the Senate’s Financial Services spending bill last week will be huge
for U.S. exports to Cuba.
The amendment by North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp and
Arkansas Republican John Boozman would lift the ban on U.S. financing for
agricultural exports to Cuba, removing the largest impediment to increasing
trade, Scuse said yesterday. The amendment made it into last year’s version of
the bill before being dropped in the final budget negotiations. But Heitkamp
believes there is growing momentum in Congress to expand trade with Cuba.
U.S. rice exports have the greatest potential to benefit
from the ability to finance exports, Scuse said. The U.S. was exporting a lot
of rice to Cuba in 2006, 2007 and 2008, but sales dropped to virtually zero in
recent years because countries like Vietnam and Thailand have been offering
cheap financing – something the U.S. still cannot do.
Chairman worries ag giants will abuse foreign immunity. Senate
Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley is worried that Chinese state-owned
enterprises can dodge the U.S. court system by claiming the sovereign immunity
available to foreign governments.
Grassley’s concern comes as ChemChina is seeking to take
over Syngenta, the biotech giant based in Switzerland. Grassley says such deals
raise issues of long-term food security for the United States.
Foreign investment in the United States is generally a good
thing, but “we must ensure that entities, whether owned by a more traditional
foreign-based company or a foreign government all play by the same rules when
it comes to U.S. laws,” he told reporters yesterday. Grassley hasn’t scheduled
a hearing on the issue yet, but he said the Judiciary Committee would be
watching it “very closely.”
Trade talks seen better without Brexit. Britain’s vote
Thursday on whether to leave the European Union is raising questions about the
possibility of a bilateral trade deal between the UK and the United States.
Were the UK to leave the EU, the British government would presumably have to
start negotiating its own trade agreements.
Hopes are dimming that the Obama administration can reach a
trade deal with the EU, but Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker told
reporters yesterday that the United States would be “much better off” if
Britain stays in the EU and is part of an EU-wide agreement the proposed
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Corker, R-Tenn., says that’s
because the U.S. would benefit from aligning its regulations with all of
Europe, not just Britain.
He said it. “Just sent my email to Senators Blunt and
McKaskill: Act Now To Support A Uniform National Food Labeling Standard!” -
Monsanto Co.’s chief technology officer, Robb Fraley, on his Twitter feed.
Sara Wyant, Bill Tomson and Spencer Chase contributed to
this report.
#30
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