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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Friday, April 19, 2024
President Donald Trump releases a fiscal 2020 budget that will push yet again for deep cuts in USDA’s budget to help offset for a steep increase in defense spending, while House Democrats set the stage for revising expired biofuel tax incentives.
Despite President Donald Trump’s ongoing battle with lawmakers over funding a border wall, preliminary efforts are underway both at the White House and in the House to craft immigration legislation that could address the labor shortage in agriculture.
With President Donald Trump having dropped the threat for now of expanded tariffs, U.S. and Chinese negotiators continue work on details of an agreement that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping could potentially seal later this month in Florida.
Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee clashed with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue over his proposal to make it harder for states to get waivers from work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue provided the implementation dates for the 2018 farm bill, saying the first payments to dairy producers could be delivered in July, and he told lawmakers that the White House is working on a comprehensive immigration reform proposal with the help of a USDA adviser.
Advocates for dairy farmers pressed USDA officials at a farm bill listening session to move quickly to get payments to financially strapped producers, while other groups urged the department to put a priority on removing barriers to cover crops and scheduling signups for major conservation programs.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue heads to Capitol Hill this week to face lawmakers eager to hear about progress on the Trump administration’s trade disputes and implementation of the farm bill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has at times been a critical ally for farm groups and rural Democrats. They hope they can count her again, this time to get the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement approved, and to keep her caucus from being pulled too far to the left.
Assured of President Donald Trump's support, the Senate and then the House passed a fiscal 2019 spending agreement Thursday to avert another government shutdown and fund USDA, Interior, FDA and other departments and agencies important to agriculture through Sept. 30.
