The House is expected to vote today on whether to expel New York Republican George Santos following an Ethics Committee report released in November. It will take a two-thirds majority of the House to remove Santos.
Why it matters: Losing Santos would leave Republicans with 221 seats. Democrats control 213. Republicans already are struggling as it is to move partisan legislation.
"Every member expelled in history of this institution has been convicted of crimes or Confederate turncoats guilty of treason. Neither of those apply to me, but here we are,” Santos said Thursday as he mounted his defense.
Lujan looking for farm bill in early 2024
A Democrat on the Senate Ag Committee, Ben Ray Lujan, says he’s hopeful that Congress will move a new farm bill by next spring.
“I remain optimistic that we will have a farm bill and that we could see this as early as the end of the first quarter of the calendar year,” the New Mexico senator says in an interview for Agri-Pulse Newsmakers. Lujan says that’s when Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., wants to get the bill done.
Keep in mind: The committee has been far from an agreement on what to do, if anything, on commodity programs.
This week’s Newsmakers will be available today at Agri-Pulse.com.
POET subsidiary to pay fine to settle alleged Clean Air Act violations
A subsidiary of ethanol producer POET has agreed to pay an $89,860 fine for allegedly violating air permit limits at its Menlo, Iowa, plant, EPA said Thursday.
After reviewing POET Biorefining facility records in 2022, EPA said the company “failed to properly operate the facility’s scrubber, which is designed to limit releases of volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants. In response to EPA’s findings, the company corrected the alleged violations and implemented procedures to ensure that the scrubber operates within required parameters.”
China again drives US soy trade
Total net export sales of U.S. soybeans reached about 1.9 million metric tons for the week of Nov. 17-23, according to the latest data released by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. That’s a 97% increase from the previous week, and Chinese customers drove most of the sales. Chinese buyers contracted for 892,300 tons of the seven-day total for 2023-24 delivery.
FAS also reported exports of about 1.4 million tons for the week, about 1 million tons of which went to China.
Take note: China was also the primary buyer of U.S. wheat for the week of Nov. 17-23. FAS announced total net sales of 622,800 tons for delivery in the 2023-24 marketing year, and Chinese purchasers contracted for 197,300 tons of that total. The U.S. exported 340,000 tons during the week and the largest destination was the Philippines, which took 130,500 tons.
Brazil gets large new allotment for US sugar quota
Every year sugar-producing countries are given a quota for exporting raw sugar to the tightly restricted U.S. market. And then, if some quota holders are unable to produce and ship the supplies, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative reallocates those unused quotas.
Brazil will be the biggest benefactor of that reallocation this year, getting a second quota of 52,581 tons, according to the USTR. Brazil’s original allocation was for 155,993 tons.
Australia got 30,098 tons in the reallocation on top of its original allocation of 89,293 tons and Guatemala got 17,406 tons on top of its fist allocation of 51,639 tons.
House Ag Dems urge chair, ranking member to preserve IRA energy program funding in farm bill
Democratic members of the House Ag Committee on Thursday said increasing demand for three Agriculture Department energy programs is one reason to keep Inflation Reduction Act funding for them intact.
The lawmakers — in a letter to House Ag Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and Ranking Member David Scott, D-Ga. — the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE), Empowering Rural America (New ERA) and Rural Energy for America (REAP) programs have seen high application numbers. New ERA, they said, received more than $43 billion in requests, while PACE saw $12 billion worth.
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“As we continue to drive towards a bipartisan farm bill, we urge you to keep these USDA IRA initiatives intact,” they wrote.
With black vultures on the rise, senators want to offer farmers help
The black vulture population has increased by 468% since 1990, creating havoc for livestock owners as calves have become their prey. New legislation introduced by Sens. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and other Republican senators would allow farmers to protect newborn livestock by obtaining permits to safely depopulate black vultures.
Some states are allowed to operate under a pilot program that allows them to offer sub-permits limiting ranchers to three to five black vulture takes per year, even though attacks normally involve 20-plus vultures at a time.
The Black Vulture Relief Act would create a federal permit program for producers and require annual reporting of takes to ensure the Fish and Wildlife Service has accurate data to monitor the population.
The legislation is endorsed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, Alabama Cattlemen’s Association, 16 other state cattlemen’s associations and four state farm bureaus.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria to be explored at meeting
The Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria will hold a meeting Dec. 20 that can be viewed online. The Health and Human Services department officially announced the meeting in the Federal Register Thursday. The meeting will be livestreamed at hhs.gov/live.
The council provides advice to the administration on a range of issues involving use of antibiotics, including alternatives to animal antibiotics.
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