House Agriculture Committee

Any revisions to U.S. food-aid programs must be discussed with the agricultural community, said House Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway in a statement. The 2014 farm law allowed greater use of locally purchased food and cash assistance in hunger relief, but kept donation of U.S.-grown food as the major source of aid; many other nations donate cash rather than commodities.

In less than half an hour, the House passed on voice votes bills to reauthorize the Grain Standards Act and the mandatory livestock price reporting program, each with significant modifications to prevent disruption of service. The bills now go to the Senate. The Grain Standards bill would require the USDA to step in immediately if there is an interruption of inspection of grain at export terminals, either by dispatching federal inspectors or inspectors from state agencies empowered to conduct the work.

The House could vote this evening on the Republican-backed bill to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, overseer of the derivatives markets. The White House threatened a veto of the bill last week. Besides renewing the operating authority of CFTC, the bill creates new safeguards for customers' funds held by trading houses, relaxes regulations on so-called end users, and makes it more difficult for the five-member commission to write new regulations.

Warning of retaliatory tariffs of more than $3 billion, Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts said, "Repeal of mandatory COOL is the surest way to protect the U.S. economy." Farm and industry groups generally joined the call for repeal during an Agriculture Committee hearing on the impact of a WTO ruling that U.S. country-of-origin labels (COOL) on packages of beef and pork violate world trade rules by discouraging imports from Canada and Mexico.

The Agriculture Department has the experience to oversee a voluntary system for labeling non-GMO foods, leaders of the House Agriculture Committee said after a review of the department's Process Verified Program. Creation of a voluntary labeling system for food made without genetically modified organisms is a key element of a House bill to pre-empt states from requiring special labels on GMO foods.

Major agricultural countries in the developing world, such as China, India and Brazil, are increasing their farm subsidies and displacing U.S. ag exports on the world market, two trade analysts told the House Agriculture Committee. "The United States, as the biggest agricultural exporter, suffers most from these distortions," said Craig Thorn of DTB Associates. U.S. negotiators have raised the issue at WTO discussions.

On a party-line vote, the House agreed to debate a bill drafted by the House Agriculture Committee to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees the derivatives market, including futures contracts. The Republican-controlled House acted one day after the White House threatened to veto the bill "because it undermines the efficient functioning" of the CFTC. The House bill creates barriers within the agency to writing new regulations, said the administration.

Growers across the country face tighter margins due to the combination of high production costs and sharply lower commodity prices, a panel of farmers told a House Agriculture subcommittee. They asked for action against farm subsidies overseas and for continued federal support at home. "For many Texas producers, there is no room for error" this year, said Steve Verrett, a cotton grower and executive vice president of Plains Cotton Growers in Lubbock, Texas.

Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo is expected to file a new version this week of his bill to pre-empt state laws that require labels on food made with genetically modified organisms, according to reports by Agri-Pulse and Politico. The bill would include language allowing the USDA to certify foods to be sold with a non-GMO label. Food companies that use the non-GMO label "would be barred from suggesting 'either expressly or by implication' that their products are safer than biotech versions," says Agri-Pulse.

The House Budget Committee called for a nominal $1 billion cut over a 10-year period in the USDA's mandatory programs, including crop insurance and food stamps, and the conversion of food stamps into a block grant program in fiscal 2021. The block-grant idea has been a feature of House Republican budget proposals in previous years. The committee provided few details on the latest iteration, which was given three paragraphs in the its 43-page document, "A balanced budget for a strong America."

Food stamps, the largest U.S. antihunger program, "lacks a clear mission," said chairwoman Jackie Walorski of the House Agriculture subcommittee on nutrition. In opening a hearing on characteristics of food-stamp recipients, the Indiana Republican said the program, which helps poor people buy food, "is not helping lift people out of poverty." She also complained of "many levels of bureaucracy" and overlapping federal, state and local programs.