2018 farm bill
Conaway plans ‘meaningful reforms’ to food stamps
Everything will be on the table when the House Agriculture Committee reviews the $70 billion-a-year food stamp program as part of writing the 2018 farm bill, said chairman Michael Conaway. "We will propose meaningful reforms to SNAP," said Conaway, using the abbreviation for the program's formal name, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Farm-bill coalition asks Congress, don’t cut us now, don’t cut us later
More than 500 groups across the farm, agribusiness, anti-hunger, rural-development and land-stewardship spectrum asked lawmakers in a letter to exempt farm-bill programs from spending cuts this year or next. Often called the farm-bill coalition, the groups said it would be "extremely difficult, if not impossible" for Congress to enact the 2018 farm bill if funding is cut from current levels.
Two Senate Ag members among ‘most vulnerable’ in 2018
Strange succeeds Sessions on Senate Agriculture Committee
Six weeks into the congressional session, the Senate Agriculture Committee has a new member, Luther Strange, an Alabama Republican and successor to Jeff Sessions, now attorney general for President Trump. Strange said that as a senator he wanted "to advance conservative principles and fight for a more lean and efficient federal government."
Stabenow meets Perdue, wants to learn more about his goals for USDA
The senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, said she had a productive conversation with President Trump's nominee for agriculture secretary, but did not endorse former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue for the job. So far, Agriculture Committee member Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota is the only Democrat in the Senate to commit to voting for Perdue.
Heitkamp is first Democratic senator to back Perdue for USDA
The Trump nominee for agriculture secretary, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, has the support of North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, the first Democrat to endorse him. A Democrat-turned-Republican, Perdue has attracted none of the controversy dogging other cabinet nominees. But as the last of President Trump's selections, he still awaits a confirmation hearing.
Merrigan tells foodies: ‘Become an expert on the entire farm bill’
If they want to prevent cuts in the food-stamp program in the 2018 farm bill, nutrition and consumer groups need to know the language of crop subsidies, says Kathleen Merrigan, former deputy agriculture secretary. "Start educating yourselves about some other parts of the farm bill," she said, lamenting, "we don't really talk about a lot of these things that the people who really want to go after [food stamps] care about."
A late start for Trump nominee at USDA may not matter
The agricultural hallmark of the Trump administration, the 2018 farm bill, will be written by Congress for the most part, said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, so it doesn't matter that Trump will take office without a hand-picked leader at the Agriculture Department. "I don't think it's got much to do ... with getting the Trump program for agriculture moving," Grassley told reporters.
Farm subsidies don’t influence food prices or help the poor, study says
Farm subsidy programs have little impact on food consumption, food security or nutrition of the poor in the United States, say three economists in a paper written for the American Enterprise Institute, which promotes the free-enterprise system. "When filtered through the food chain, their impacts on retail prices and food consumption are surely tiny," the paper said.
Three new members on Senate Agriculture Committee
Democrats narrowed the Republican majority in the Senate in the November elections, so the Agriculture Committee will have 11 Republicans this session, unchanged from last year, and 10 Democrats, an increase of one. The committee has three newcomers: Republicans Steve Daines of Montana and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, and Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. Sessions is expected to leave the committee as soon as he is confirmed as attorney general.
Sonny Perdue is leading contender to head USDA
Out of a cavalcade of candidates, Sonny Perdue, the first Republican governor of Georgia since Reconstruction, is President-elect Donald Trump's leading candidate to become agriculture secretary in what has become the lengthiest selection process in at least 40 years. Perdue would be the second southerner to serve as agriculture secretary in the USDA's 118 years as a cabinet department.
Democrats add Van Hollen to Senate Agriculture Committee
Newly elected Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland will be the only Democratic newcomer on the Senate Agriculture Committee in the two-year session that opens Jan. 3, according to party leaders. Van Hollen will be the 10th Democrat on the committee, reflecting the closer balance of power between the Republican majority and Democratic minority.
Forceful Trump to press regulatory relief first, say farm policy hands
The Trump administration will focus on regulatory relief in its early days in office, said two farm-policy hands, who pointed to EPA's Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule as a prime example of federal over-reach. Chuck Conner, of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, said President-elect Trump will be forceful in rolling back regulations, and Dale Moore, of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the regulatory burden saps farmers' bottom lines.
Trump victory throws cold water on expanded farm stewardship
The election of Donald Trump means that environmentalists can forget about new, broader rules on land and water stewardship by farmers, said a prominent Republican farm leader. "Those new regulations are not going to happen," said Chuck Conner, who added that the 2018 farm bill would continue the system of incentives for voluntary action against erosion and polluted runoff.
Trump, a supporter of ethanol, less farm regulation
President-elect Donald Trump campaigned as a supporter of corn ethanol and said he would protect farmers from over-regulation. His senior advisor, Sam Clovis, said the New York businessman does not support the idea, popular among conservative House Republicans, of splitting food stamps from the rest of the farm bill.
Three sectors to watch in general-election results
The 2016 general election can be split into sectors of interest for food and agriculture issues: state referendums on agricultural issues; four municipal referendums on soda taxes, and three House races in which the food movement targeted Republican incumbents.
Urban farmers would get a hand from USDA under Stabenow bill
Urban agriculture, a comparative newcomer to the American food system, would gain wider access to loans and farming advice from USDA experts under a bill announced by Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the lead Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee. The legislation is an early, if not the first, entry for inclusion in the 2018 farm bill.
Farmers to get $10 billion in economic assistance
President Biden signed a stop-gap government funding bill over the weekend that calls for speedy payment of $10 billion to farmers to buffer lower commodity prices and high production costs. Congress voted to fund the government through March 14 after a fight that showed the limits of President-elect Trump's control over Republican lawmakers.