WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2016 - Congress has cleared a stopgap
spending bill that will keep the government running until December, averting a
shutdown that could have occurred when the new fiscal year starts this
Saturday.
Passage of the continuing resolution (CR) was assured when
House Republicans agreed to allow an aid package for Flint, Mich., to be added
to a water projects authorization bill that the House passed yesterday
evening.
Approval of the CR means Congress will be out of session
until after the election. Congressional appropriators will be spending the
coming weeks working on legislation to fund the rest of the fiscal year.
House vote opens way for talks on water bill. Agribusiness
groups are cheering House passage of its bill to reauthorize waterway and port
projects. That vote clears the way for negotiators to begin work on a
compromise with a broader Senate-passed measure that includes authorization for
drinking water projects.
The compromise bill will be a major priority for the lame
duck session that will start after the November election.
Both bills would put Congress back on a two-year schedule
for reauthorizing water projects. Mike Steenhoek, Executive Director of the Soy
Transportation Coalition, says that’s important because it will help ensure
that lawmakers pay more attention to the needs of waterways and ports.
“One of the challenges confronting the inland waterway
system and barge transportation is that it is largely out of sight and
therefore out of mind for many policymakers,” he said.
CFTC nominees clear hurdle. The Senate Agriculture
Committee yesterday formally approved nominees to fill the two vacancies on the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission. A Senate leadership spokesman says it’s
not clear when the full Senate will act on the nominations.
Chris Brummer, a Georgetown University law professor, and
Brian Quintenz, a former Republican congressional aide, both
promised at their confirmation hearing this month to seek grassroots
input from farmers and ranchers on actions the agency is considering.
Senate OKs seed treaty. Before wrapping up its
pre-election work yesterday, the Senate finally ratified the International Treaty on
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which
was designed to set rules for sharing genetic material on 64 of the world’s
most important crops.
The American Seed Trade Association and a broad array of
other U.S. farm groups support the treaty, which was first negotiated during
the Bush administration.
Farms, small businesses object to change estate tax rules. Small
businesses and agricultural groups from across the country are calling on the
Treasury Department to kill proposed
regulations that could increase the value of estates for tax
purposes.
A letter to
the department signed by the businesses and groups says the rules “would impose
significant new tax costs on family-owned businesses, diverting capital from
business investment, costing jobs and threatening the ability of families to
pass businesses on to the next generation of owners.”
The department says it’s closing a loophole that allows
owners of closely held businesses to artificially lower the value of their
assets by discounting the value of ownership interests. The current estate tax
exemption is $5.45 million per person or $10.9 million per couple.
China adds countervailing duties to US DDGS. China is
moving ahead with imposing countervailing duties on U.S. dried distiller’s
grains imports. In the latest action in the case, China announced a preliminary
decision to implement duties of between 10 percent and 10.7 percent to counter
U.S. subsidies.
Growth Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association and the U.S.
Grains Council expressed their disappointment with China’s action in a joint
statement. The three groups insist that U.S. DDGs haven’t hurt Chinese
producers and play an important role in protecting the Chinese from global
market swings.
Rice producers like disaster accounts. The USA Rice
Federation is throwing its support behind a proposal to allow farmers to create
tax-deferred farm savings accounts that producers could tap after natural
disasters and other difficult times. The group says the Farm
Risk Abatement and Mitigation Election, or FRAME Act, would be a good
addition to farm bill programs.
“Given the recent flooding throughout the Gulf and the
Mid-South, this type of tool could incentivize young people to get into farming
and also help them stay in farming,” says Ben Mosely, vice president of
government affairs for USA Rice
The bill’s sponsor, Rick Crawford, R-Ark., tells Agri-Pulse that
the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady, supports the
legislation. Ways and Means has jurisdiction over tax law.
USDA announces $56 million for local farms, poor
neighborhoods. USDA will be distributing $56 million worth of grants for a
wide range of projects to benefit rural farming communities, organic farmers
and low-income-neighborhoods.
About 100 new projects aimed at supporting rural economies
and increasing marketing opportunities for farmers will receive $26 million.
Another $8.6 million will go towards funding projects to increase the
availability or healthy food in low-income neighborhoods.
USDA also is providing $21.4 million for 26 projects to help
boost organic food production and marketing.
Trump and Clinton tell Farm Bureau they won’t support
TPP. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have reaffirmed their
opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership in response to a survey by the
American Farm Bureau Federation.
Trump’s response: "I strongly oppose TPP as
drafted and will work hard to develop trade agreements that are in the national
interest and benefit American workers including our farmers.”
The Clinton campaign: “Hillary has been clear and
specific in her opposition to the TPP. She opposes it now, she opposes it in
November, and she will not move it forward in January.”
The candidate’s full responses on trade, the TPP and other
issues can be found on the Farm Bureau’s web site.
Spencer Chase and Bill Tomson contributed to this
report.
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