Senate Agriculture Committee
In the spotlight for 2018 Senate races: Agriculture Committee members
One-third of the 23 Democratic senators facing re-election in 2018 sit on the Agriculture Committee, including the panel's top Democrat, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, a stalwart defender of food stamps in the final negotiations for the 2014 farm law. President-elect Donald Trump carried four of the states where Ag Committee Democrats will have to decide soon whether to run for another term, a sign of Republican strength.
Two CFTC nominees cleared for Senate vote
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.
Senate Ag panelist Bennet coasts towards re-election as GOP threat fades
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, viewed as one of the most vulnerable senators at the start of the electoral season, is a safe bet for re-election, says political analyst Larry Sabato, because "the GOP is just not very competitive in Colorado this year." Similarly, Roll Call newspaper said Bennet, a member of the Agriculture Committee, "is now favored to retain his seat."
Senators say food-stamp store rule needs better balance
A near-majority of the Senate told the USDA to rewrite a proposal for stores that participate in the food stamp program. The agency’s proposal would require stores to stock a greater variety of healthy foods and would bar retailers that sell a lot of hot food.
Ernst will focus on Iowa, not Trump
irst-term Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, an Agriculture Committee member, says she wants to focus on her home state rather than running for vice president with Republican businessman Donald Trump, reports Politico.
Senate Ag leaders agree on GMO food-labeling bill … but too late
Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee agreed on mandatory nationwide labeling of GMO foods, allowing use of QR codes and symbols as well as wording on packages, under a system that would take effect in two years or so. The legislation would pre-empt state labeling laws but Congress cannot act quickly enough to prevent Vermont's first-in-the-nation law from taking effect on July 1.
Senate Ag Committee, fertile ground for potential Trump VP
Three members of the Senate Agriculture Committee — Joni Ernst of Iowa, David Perdue of Georgia and John Thune of South Dakota — are on the long list of potential running mates for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. "Perhaps the buzziest" is Ernst, elected to the Senate in 2014, says political website Sabato's Crystal Ball.
Senate race heats up in Iowa, as Colorado cools off
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet's chances for re-election are strengthening while Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley's race merits closer attention, says the political website Sabato's Crystal Ball.
GMO food-label chaos coming, but a vote is postponed
Vermont's first-in-the-nation law to require special labels on food made with genetically modified organisms "is going to create a chaotic situation," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told lawmakers in backing a nationwide solution. "We want some standardization ... We need to get this fixed."
A push for a Senate vote next week on GMO pre-emption
Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts was negotiating terms of a bill that could be called for Senate debate next week to pre-empt state GMO food-labeling laws.
GOP eyes Senate Ag member Bennet as vulnerable
National Republicans see Colorado as one of their few chances to pick up a Senate seat this year, and "think they've found a candidate and could make a strong run in a divided state," reports Politico in listing 15 states where competitive races may develop.
Redistricting cripples House Ag panelist Graham’s re-election bid
Senate ag panel leaders say sugar program is safe
The two leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee, chairman Pat Roberts and top-ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow, said the U.S. sugar program is safe from challenge within the committee.
Senate ag chairman says “flexibility” is key for school-food bill
Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts says the word he hears again and again is "flexibility" when the topic is renewal of U.S. child nutrition programs that cost $21 billion a year.
Two COOL vehicles could collide in the highway bill
Congress is clearly on its way to repealing the law that requires packages of beef, pork and chicken sold in supermarkets to carry labels that say where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. But there are rival plans on how to do it.
House hands COOL repeal to Senate, where it faces greater scrutiny
Three weeks after an adverse WTO ruling, the House sent to the Senate a bill to repeal the law that requires packages of beef, pork and chicken sold in grocery stores to say where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. Advocates of the so-called country-of-origin labels (COOL), routed in the House on a 300-131 rollcall, hope the Senate will stop the stampede to repeal.
As House votes, Senate ponders its COOL move
Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway hopes for a large majority vote in the House today to repeal country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on packages of beef, pork and chicken sold in grocery stores. A strong House vote for repeal would create leverage for the Senate to concur, Conaway says. A coalition of manufacturing, business and agricultural groups says it is "critical that Congress enact corrective legislation before adjourning for August recess."