The House could vote as soon as Tuesday on its massive, $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill. Lawmakers worked through the weekend on tweaks to the package of climate measures and social spending.
"We are working to add things in. ... I think we can have the vote by Tuesday.” a leading progressive, California Rep. Ro Khanna, told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday
The measure has more than $90 billion in agriculture provisions, including $27 billion in additional spending for conservation programs to help farmers adopt climate-smart practices.
Keep in mind: Passage of the bill this week would provide a boost to President Biden and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack during the international climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Vilsack is scheduled to be at the conference Thursday through Saturday.
"Look, we are the closest that we've ever been, and the president is confident that this framework that we're putting forward can pass the House and Senate and get to his desk for signature,”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday.
By the way: The House also is expected to act on the Senate-passed infrastructure bill this week. The $1.2 trillion bill includes $550 billion in new spending for roads, bridges, waterways, rural broadband and western water projects. House passage of the bill would send it to Biden for his signature.
Read our Washington Week Ahead for more.
Biden holds global supply chain summit
President Joe Biden spent much of his first day at the international COP26 conference in Glasgow to hold a Summit on Global Supply Chain Resilience. Leader of the European Union and 14 “link-minded” countries attended the summit, where Biden announced new measures to try to alleviate strains on trade.
Earlier this month Biden announced deals with domestic ports, dockworkers, railroads, trucking companies, labor unions and retailers to expand their hours of operation and on Sunday the president pledged to “to provide technical assistance to Mexico and Central America counterparts to alleviate supply chain disruptions and bottlenecks.”
Leaders and representatives of Australia, Canada, Mexico, India, Japan, the UK, Singapore, Korea, Indonesia and Democratic Republic of the Congo attended the summit. Most noticeably missing was China. The surge in Chinese exports to the U.S., coupled with strong American demand, are key factors in bottlenecks at U.S. ports.
Broadband group praises inclusion of internet affordability in BBB plan
A broadband coalition is welcoming the inclusion of internet affordability and access provisions for consumers in the updated Build Back Better plan.
Connect Americans Now, a broad coalition of groups that support improving high-speed internet access across the country, said in a letter to Senate and House leadership last week, “American communities are being left behind without access to broadband infrastructure, without the resources they need to afford broadband service, (and) without access to broadband-supported devices for telehealth, telework and school.”
CAN notes that according to the Federal Communications Commission, over 14 million people in America lack access to high-speed internet.
Farm Bureau: US-EU deal on tariffs is good for farmers
The deal reached this weekend to end European Union retaliatory tariffs on U.S. corn and other goods in exchange for a halt to U.S. tariffs on EU steel and aluminum is welcome news for American farmers, says American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall.
“While the dispute centered around steel and aluminum, farmers were swept up in the turmoil as the EU clamped down on U.S. agricultural exports like orange juice, butter, cheese, pork, nuts and many more,” Duvall said in a statement. “It’s crucial that we now restore those trade relationships.”
Take note: American barley, rye, corn and wheat farmers who supply the U.S. whiskey industry will also see a benefit from the deal. EU retaliatory tariffs have been hitting American whiskey exports hard, according to Distilled Spirits Council President and CEO Chris Swonger.
“Lifting this tariff burden on American whiskeys not only boosts U.S. distillers and farmers, it also supports the recovery of EU restaurants, bars and distilleries hit hard by the pandemic,” he said in a statement.
House Ag members face varying futures after redistricting
The Illinois legislature has approved new congressional maps that will put in jeopardy one of two GOP members of the House Ag committee.
The map effectively pits first-term Rep. Mary Miller against Rep. Mike Bost, a former House Ag member. But another House Ag member, Rodney Davis, gets a new district that is considered fairly safe for him.
Christopher Mooney, a professor of state politics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says Bost’s years of experience and name recognition give him a big advantage over Miller.
Davis, on the other hand, will have a more Republican district, in part because he will pick up some of Miller’s district. “There was a lot of speculation about where he would end up,” Mooney said. “Now it turns out he's all by himself in a perfectly Republican district where he will grow old and fat and die.”
Keep in mind: Illinois lost a congressional seat as a result of the 2020 census.
Look for ‘convergence’ at COP 26, UK climate advocate says
The goal of the Glasgow conference is to get the world’s leading emitters on the path to net zero emissions by 2050.
A high-level climate official from the UK said nations are likely to agree on short-term goals at COP26, such as elimination of the combustion engine and increased use of sustainable aviation fuel.
Speaking on a recent webinar, the UK’s High-Level Climate Action Champion for COP26, Nigel Topping, says observers also should “look for evidence of capital - countries committing money to specific breakthroughs. That's what's going to be needed for this to be the action COP, right? Not the blah, blah, blah, but the cash, cash, cash COP.”
COP26 is seen as critical to advancing action on global climate change. The pressure is on, as reports are released almost daily concluding that nations and industrial sectors are far behind in reducing the greenhouse gases that are causing increased warming.
By the way: The World Resources Institute analyzed 40 indicators of progress and says none “exhibit a recent historical rate of change that is at or above the pace required to achieve their 2030 targets.”
Questions? Tips? Comments? Email Bill Tomson at bill@agri-pulse.com
Daybreak Nov. 1: House Dems plan fast vote on spending bills
