It’s all but official. Congress will have another year to try to write a new farm bill.
Late Wednesday night, the Senate cleared a continuing resolution that includes a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill. The CR, which still must be signed into law by President Biden, will avert a government shutdown this weekend when the stopgap measure that’s currently funding the government expires.
The CR will keep USDA and FDA funded until Jan. 19. Most of the government, including the Interior and Labor departments and EPA, will be funded until Feb. 2.
Meanwhile: Members of the House started their Thanksgiving break early on Wednesday after GOP leaders were unable to move two more partisan FY24 appropriations bills, the Labor-HHS measure and the Commerce-Justice-Science bill. A rule needed to start debate on the CJS bill failed because of opposition from hardliners, who said it didn’t go far enough to address issues at the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., expressed frustration with the hardliners. “I don't think blowing up an appropriations bill on the floor is a particularly effective way to get people to view you as reliable partners in future legislative negotiations,” Johnson said.
USDA proposes to expand biotech exemptions
USDA officials say proposed new exemptions for genetically modified plants should help ease the workload of biotech regulators at the agency and speed up reviews.
Officials with USDA’s Biotechnology Regulatory Services used the agency’s annual stakeholder meeting to outline the proposal published Wednesday. The proposal would add five new types of genetic modifications a plant can contain and be exempt from current genetic engineering regulations, so long as those changes could also be achieved through conventional breeding.
Industry critics of the existing rules say they’ve limited the number of crops that could benefit from gene editing.
Among other things, the proposal would exempt plants “with up to four modifications that individually qualify for exemption and are made simultaneously or sequentially, … provided that each modification is at a different genetic locus.” Another would allow successive modifications for plants that have already completed a voluntary review confirming their exempt status and met other requirements.
House chairs demand answers on $250M pandemic-related meal fruad
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., are demanding to know how a Minnesota program called Feeding Our Future could defraud USDA of $250 million in child nutrition assistance during the pandemic.
The Justice Department has charged 60 people with federal crimes in the scheme.
The lawmakers' letter to the Minnesota Department of Education says the allegations “raise many questions about the management of these programs at the USDA and [Minnesota Department of Education], and perhaps in other states. In this case, it is unclear how the FNS and its partnering state agency, MDE, failed to prevent this fraud, which has been described as the ‘largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the nation.’”
House leaders want H-2A rule withdrawn
Thompson and Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., are calling on the Labor Department to withdraw its rule on H-2A ag workers, saying it gives “unprecedented access by organized labor to the property of farmers” and adds red tape and additional burdens to American farmers. The DOL rule proposes expanded protections for H-2A workers.
In comments submitted to the department, the House chairs say, “The proposed rule exceeds DOL authority, is a giveaway to Big Labor, infringes on farmers’ property rights and is overly burdensome in numerous other ways. DOL needs to withdraw this proposed rule and go back to the drawing board.”
Food banks could see fewer donations this holiday season
The holiday season typically brings higher donations to food banks, but that may not be the case this year.
According to a survey conducted by Divert, a company that helps facilitate donations by grocery chains, nearly half of survey respondents said they are more likely to donate to food banks during the holiday season compared to other times of the year. But just 25% said they’re more likely to donate during this year’s holiday season compared to years past.
Those who are donating less to food banks this season cite increasing food costs as the No. 1 reason.
Vince Hall, chief government relations officer for Feeding America, which represents food banks, says they’re in an “unprecedented historic moment” with needs continuing to soar, but private donations down.
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“A lot of our food banks are burning through cash to buy food, which is very expensive to cover the gap. And they raised a lot of money during the pandemic, but they’re burning through that cash to buy food to serve today,” says Hall.
U.S.-Japan statement calls for fair ag trade
The 14 Indo-Pacific Economic Framework countries have delayed completion of the trade and agriculture section of the agreement, but Japan signed onto a statement with the U.S. supporting work to tear down non-tariff trade barriers that are not based on science.
Key to the statement by the two IPEF nations is the U.S. agreement that Japan’s decision to dump treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant does not affect food safety.
“We reiterate that measures affecting the free trade of food and agricultural products should be based on scientific principles and substantiated by scientific evidence and that restrictions on the imports of Japanese food products should be immediately rescinded,” the two countries said this week in a joint statement after a meeting of the Japan-U.S. Economic Policy Consultative Committee.
Keep in mind: Japan is fighting at the World Trade Organization against restrictions by China and Russia on its seafood and other products. The U.S., UK, Canada and European Union offered support for Japan.
He said it: “One thing. I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing, one, that I can go campaign on and say we did. One.” – Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, expressing frustration on the House floor Wednesday. GOP leaders had just pulled two more Republican appropriations bills from the floor.
Jacqui Fatka, Bill Tomson and Steve Davies contributed to this report.
