Senate bill would ban broad swath of pesticides
The United States would ban the use of two classes of insecticides—organophosphates and neonicotinoids—and the herbicide paraquat under a bill unveiled by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey on Monday. More than 100 pesticides would be affected, including chlorpyrifos, recently slated by the EPA for termination as an agricultural aid.
Stepping ahead of Biden, progressives propose free school meals for all
More than three dozen Democrats in the House and Senate proposed a dramatic expansion of U.S. spending on school meals to provide free meals for all students, not just low-income children. "What we've seen during this pandemic is that a universal approach to school meals works," said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a lead sponsor. "We cannot go backwards."
Sanders calls for ag trust-busters, large government role in farming
Fundamental change in U.S. agricultural and rural policy is "an absolute necessity," said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday in calling for Teddy "Roosevelt-style trust-busting laws to stop monopolization of markets and break up massive agribusinesses." In a position paper, Sanders, pursuing the Democratic nomination for president, endorsed supply management — federal control over farm production — higher minimum prices for major commodities such as grain and milk and a return to a government-owned grain reserve "to alleviate the need for government subsidies and ensure we have a food supply in case of extreme weather events."
In first House election in Trump era, Democratic hopes soar in Kansas
Kansas is an intensely Republican state, yet Democrats have hopes of an upset in the first U.S. House race in the age of Trump, a special election today to replace Mike Pompeo, who quit Congress to become CIA director. The Democratic nominee, civil rights lawyer James Thompson, "has spooked Republicans in Washington" with a Bernie-Sanders-style campaign, says The Nation.
Bernie Sanders takes a pop at soda-tax ads
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders told a soda industry group, in the form of a cease-and-desist letter, to stop using him in its campaign against soda taxes in California's Bay Area, says Politico. Sanders says he has not taken a position on referendums in San Francisco and Oakland and it is "false" and "misleading" for the American Beverage Association to feature him in advertising.
Prevent post-election vote on TPP, Sanders asks Democrats
During a speech endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called for Democrats to prevent a congressional vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the November election, the period when farm groups believe the trade pact has its best chance of passage. "We have to be sure that TPP does not get to the floor of Congress during the lame-duck session," said Sanders at the Democratic National Convention.
Peterson, a Blue Dog Democrat, feels the Bern
Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, a conservative Democrat, has found unexpected acclaim for pledging to vote the same way at his party's presidential convention in late July as his constituents did in the March 1 caucuses: for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Senators ask EPA for much larger biodiesel mandate
Three dozen senators sent a letter to the EPA asking for a much higher mandate for biodiesel than the agency proposed for 2016 and 2017. They say the agency failed to "adequately recognize the domestic biodiesel industry's production capacity and its ability to increase production."
Orman “small favorite” in Kansas, Benishek likely in Michigan
Independent Greg Orman is "at least a small favorite" to defeat third-term Sen Pat Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, in Kansas, says the Sabato's Crystal Ball.