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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Republicans solidified their hold on the Senate, ensuring that President Donald Trump can continue reshaping the judiciary over the next two years, but Democrats ended the GOP’s eight-year hold on the House.
If Democrats win control of the House, U.S. agriculture will face a very different set of committee leaders and approaches to regulatory policy than it has since the chamber has been under GOP control.
The four lead farm bill negotiators, meeting for the first time since some bickering erupted over the expiration of the 2014 law, declared that they are working together to reach an agreement by the end of the year.
The four lead farm bill negotiators failed to reach a deal in time to avert Sunday’s expiration of the 2014 law, but they emerged from a one-hour meeting Wednesday to say they are committed to finalizing an agreement that Congress can consider following the mid-term elections.
Farm bill negotiators have yet to resolve the toughest differences between the House and Senate versions even as their self-imposed deadline of Sept. 30 looms less than a month away.
Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts plans to call the first formal meeting of the farm bill conference committee shortly after the Labor Day recess and hopes to make headway by then in settling differences with the House negotiators.
The Senate looks to finally name its team of farm bill negotiators this week while also finishing work on a $154 billion spending bill for a bevy of departments and agencies important to agriculture, including USDA and FDA.
The House took a step Wednesday toward beginning formal negotiations with the Senate over a new farm bill and overwhelmingly voted in favor of including permanent funding for USDA efforts to combat animal diseases.
The fate of the farm bill this year could hinge on whether House and Senate negotiators can find a compromise on tightening work requirements for food stamp recipients in ways that could appeal to at least some Senate Democrats.
USDA could soon have a new chief scientist. President Trump says he plans to nominate Scott Hutchins, the global leader of integrated field sciences for Corteva Agriscience, as the department’s undersecretary for research, education and economics.
