Articles by Philip Brasher

he Senate Finance Committee approved a bill to fast-track new trade agreements as the panelps leaders fought off bipartisan efforts to attack foreign currency manipulation and impose restrictions on U.S. negotiators. The Trade Promotion Authority bill, approved 20-6 wi

Democratic appropriators failed to slow down a Republican effort to block the Obama administration from re-defining the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, proposed to strip several policy provisions from the fiscal 2016 Energy and Water spending

Fast-track is finally on the fast track. ItPs possible the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) deal needed to smooth the path through Congress for trade deals with 11 Pacific Rim nations and the European Union could be on the Senate floor as soon as next week.

The water development bill and barge tax increase that passed Congress last year could start to pay off for the ports and waterways critical to moving agricultural exports. Harbor projects are likely to be the biggest near-term beneficiaries.

Obama administration officials are telling lawmakers theyPve done as much as they can without action by Congress to make it easier to trade with Cuba.

Farmers and grain traders want to avoid a repeat of what happened last year when a labor dispute at the Port of Vancouver in Washington state slowed Asia-bound grain shipments.

The Senate and House will move forward with renewing the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), even though South Africa has yet to agree to U.S. demands that it end antidumping duties on American chicken.

The White House says it's "irresponsible" for House appropriators to use a spending bill to block the administration from implementing new definitions of what streams, ponds and other features are regulated under the Clean Water Act.

A deal between key lawmakers to fast-track new trade agreements begins to move through Congress this week, increasing pressure on President Obama to win over reluctant Democrats.

An Iowa egg operation with more than 5 million hens is the latest poultry farm hit by a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza. The Agriculture Department announced new findings of the H5N2 virus in Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as the 5.3 million layer hens in Osceola County, I