We now know a lot more about where the House and Senate are headed on their respective farm bills. But we don’t appear to be anywhere closer to a breakthrough in the partisan impasse.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson released a broad summary Wednesday of what’s going to be in the bill the panel will consider May 23. Later in the day, Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow released a much more detailed, 94-page section-by-section summary of her bill, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act.
Keep in mind: It’s hard to compare the two bills due to the lack of detail in Thompson’s summary, and Stabenow hasn’t released the actual text of hers either. But there are plenty of potential flashpoints, including their treatment of conservation programs and nutrition title.
Stabenow’s bill would make conservation programs permanent, exempting from the need for reauthorization. She also wants to impose a $700,000 adjusted gross income limit for commodity program payments on individuals and legal entities. Thompson’s bill will include provisions to prevent states from regulating animal welfare outside their borders.
By the way: Thompson had this to say to reporters who asked about Stabenow’s bill: “I have not gotten a chance to read it yet. I am meeting with her next week. I'm told by one group that met with her and looked at it that it was completely different from what we're doing. But I'll make my own judgment."
Stabenow: No plan to move bill
Stabenow isn’t scheduling committee action on her bill. She said it’s intended instead as a starting point for negotiations.
What she didn’t say is that her draft also gives Democrats in the House and Senate a bill to rally around – some political cover, if you will – as House Republicans try to peel off some Democratic votes in committee.
“I think there'll be broad Democratic support for this,” Stabenow said of her bill.
Thompson insists rural Democrats are taking a political risk if they oppose his bill: "Well there's a lot of folks that are not going to win a reelection, honestly, because you don't want to be from farm country, of either party, and vote against this farm bill."
Peterson: Republicans are wasting their time
Former House Ag Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., told Agri-Pulse’s Noah Wicks Wednesday that neither proposal can win bipartisan support. He doesn’t think Thompson’s bill will advance beyond the Ag committee, leaving the impasse to linger.
"You need to understand there are no farm districts left on the Democratic side. That's the problem. There are no members that are in districts where the farm vote is enough to make a difference in their elections,” he said.
Peterson says it’s still possible a bill could pass in the lame-duck session at the end of the year, depending on the outcome of the election. But he adds, “If I had to guess, by the end of the year, we're probably looking at another one-year extension.”
Top USDA official quizzed on SAF
Robert Bonnie, USDA undersecretary for farm production and conservation programs, used a House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee hearing Wednesday to defend the administration’s new rules for a tax incentive for sustainable aviation fuel. The rules require corn and soybean farmers to use a bundle of climate-smart practices, including cover crops and no-till.
Bonnie was asked whether the next set of rules, for a broader tax credit called 45Z that will take effect in 2025, would be less restrictive. He said USDA would be working with the Treasury Department to “provide more flexibility, more opportunities” for crops to qualify for the incentive. “At the end of the day it’s Treasury’s rule. We’re heavily engaged,” he said.
Spuds win: Agriculture Department takes a side
A Maine senator is declaring victory in potato-state lawmakers’ fight to keep potatoes classified as a vegetable after winning support from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
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Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, says Vilsack told her in a phone call that the agency will "officially support keeping potatoes classified as a vegetable, and not a grain” when it comes to the next edition of the dietary guidelines.
But, but, but: Dietary guidelines are not solely under USDA’s jurisdiction. Collins said she had not yet heard on the matter from the Department of Health and Human Services, which shares jurisdiction.
USDA study finds no H5N1 presence in beef
Samples of ground beef from stores in states with known H5N1 infections in dairy herds tested negative for the virus, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Wednesday.
The results from tests of 30 ground beef samples “reaffirm that the meat supply is safe,” the agency said. USDA is still checking muscle samples from culled dairy cattle for the presence of virus particles.
White House climate adviser: U.S. has enough critical minerals for EVS
The United States has enough critical minerals to support the surge in electric vehicle production that will be needed to meet the Biden administration’s climate goals, White House Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi told reporters at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s Washington Watch event on Wednesday.
“You look at the Salton Sea – for so long … left out of economic opportunity,” he said of the water body in southern California. “We believe there's lithium supply there, potentially for the whole nation, maybe more. And it's a supply that we think can be extracted in a very non-disruptive way.”
By the way: Zaidi asserted that the 40B SAF rules “really put wind in the sails of sustainable aviation fuel.”
He said it. "It doesn't need to be this way. The problem is Pat Roberts and I are not there. If we were, this would get worked out." – Former House Ag Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., referring to the Senate Ag Committee chairman when the 2018 bill was passed
Noah Wicks and Steve Davies contributed to this report.
