Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson is the fourth GOP nominee for House speaker after winning the latest rounds of balloting Tuesday night. Johnson, whose district includes the Shreveport area, is a former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the GOP’s largest ideological caucus. He’s known for playing a lead role in challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota became the third nominee earlier Tuesday but later withdrew.
CCC authority under threat, farm groups told
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow and some of her aides are warning farm groups about the effort by Republican lawmakers to restrict USDA’s use of its Commodity Credit Corporation spending authority, sources tell Agri-Pulse.
Stabenow, D-Mich., made the warning in a conference call she held Tuesday to discuss the USDA’s planned use of $2.3 billion in CCC funds to erect a new five-year agricultural trade promotion and marketing program as well as buy up more U.S.-grown commodities for international food aid.
Stabenow’s office isn’t commenting publicly on the issue.
By the way: Stabenow is knocking down the idea that she would leave the Senate early to take over the presidency of her alma mater, Michigan State University. Stabenow on Tuesday called for the resignation of MSU board chair Rema Vassar to resign over allegations that Vassar bullied administrators. A leading Michigan public relations specialist, John Truscott, then predicted Stabenow would be chosen as MSU’s next president, and House Ag Committee member Elissa Slotkin would be appointed to finish Stabenow’s term.
Stabenow’s response: “Not going to happen! I still have lots to do for Michigan in the Senate!”
Stabenow isn’t running for reelection in 2024, and Slotkin is running for the seat.
Key Republicans disagree on length of farm bill extension
There’s little question now that Congress is going to have to extend the 2018 farm bill. The question is how long that extension will be.
The top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, John Boozman of Arkansas, suggests it should be for a full year to provide some certainty to farmers and their bankers. But House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pa., said Tuesday he doesn't think an extension needs to be that long. "I certainly have more confidence in John Boozman than maybe he does," Thompson quipped.
Boozman said he didn't think it would take an entire year to get a new farm bill enacted.
For more on the issues raised by an extension, check out this week’s Agri-Pulse newsletter.
Senate cuts deal on spending package
Senate leaders have reached an agreement that clears the way for the chamber to take up a package of three spending bills for fiscal 2024, including the bill that funds USDA and FDA.
The agreement will allow consideration of 40 amendments. They include one offered by Stabenow that would provide $8.5 million for urban agriculture. An amendment by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., would earmark $1 million for research on drought- and disease-resistant peanuts.
Another amendment by Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan would bar the use of Chinese seafood in school meals.
Keep in mind: The House version of the Ag spending bill is in limbo after failing on the floor in September.
Fruit and vegetable exporters to get funds from RAPP
USDA will be dedicating $100 million for fruit and vegetable exporters out of the $1.3 billion, CCC-funded Regional Agricultural Promotion Program that it unveiled Tuesday, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The money will go toward countering technical and sanitary and phytosanitary barriers that hinder U.S. fruit and vegetable exports.
The fruit and vegetable sector has already pointed out some of the barriers that need to be addressed, and a USDA official says the department will also be holding “a series of meetings” with industry leaders.
California lawmakers seek ag disaster aid
A group of House Democrats from California are calling on the White House to include agricultural disaster aid in a supplemental funding request to Congress. The lawmakers say the flooding earlier this year caused $1.4 billion in ag damages.
“Without this desperately needed assistance, farmers will not be able to produce the country’s fruits and vegetables, and the effects will be felt nationwide,” says a letter from the lawmakers to the White House led by Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif.
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US is again selling chickpeas to buyers in India
India’s 10% tariff on U.S. chickpeas was dropped only about a month ago, but deals are already being done to ship U.S. chickpeas to the country, according to an official with the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council.
There have “definitely been some sales,” says Jeff Rumney, vice president of marketing for the group, but he stresses that it will take some time for the U.S. to take full advantage of the reopening of the market.
The U.S. was exporting about $6.4 million worth of chickpeas to India before the country retaliated against U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs and slapped its own tariffs on U.S. ag commodities such as chickpeas. All U.S. exports of chickpeas to India were eventually halted because of the retaliatory tariff. So, American farmers began looking for alternative markets.
“U.S. chickpea exports grew from $52 million in 2013 to total $169 million in 2017 but declined to $67 million by 2022 in part due to drastically reduced shipments to India,” according to a new analysis from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
Republicans: Redefining poverty would hurt rural areas
A recommendation by the National Academy of Sciences to replace the government’s official measure of poverty with a new “supplemental poverty measure” is getting pushback from rural Republicans. The supplemental poverty measure accounts for differences in local costs of living.
At a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Republicans said the change could divert funding from rural areas to states with higher costs of living. California would see its poverty rate increase by nearly 6%, while the poverty rate in Mississippi would fall by nearly 4%, said subcommittee Chair Darin LaHood, R-Ill.
The poverty definition is crucial to SNAP, the National School Lunch Program, Medicaid, and many other programs.
"In particular, our rural communities depend on the resources and programs Congress provides to deliver necessary services and fight poverty on the ground. Redirecting resources away from rural communities would have a devastating effect,” LaHood said.
He said it. “Frankly, an increasingly polarized political environment that rewards intransigence, stubbornness, and fighting as opposed to finding common ground.” – Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., asking why it was so hard for House Republicans to unite on a speaker candidate.
Bill Tomson and Jacqui Fatka contributed to this report.
