House Republicans this week will put a focus on a key part of the Biden administration’s climate policy that former President Donald Trump is promising to undo if he wins the White House.
GOP leaders are teeing up a vote on a Congressional Review Act resolution aimed at electric vehicles. Specifically, they’re going after EPA tailpipe emissions standards which, while not mandating sales of EVs by 2032, would likely require that most new vehicles sold be electric.
The ethanol industry worries the standards will slash demand for the biofuel.
Keep in mind: The vote is largely symbolic because President Joe Biden would veto the resolution if it were to get to his desk. But the vote could put some rural and swing-district Democrats on the hot seat.
For more on this week’s agenda in D.C., including the latest on the farm bill, read our Washington Week Ahead.
KC summit looks at ag economy
Agri-Pulse and the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City are presenting their annual Ag Outlook Forum today.
Featured speakers will include USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer; Robert Bonnie, USDA’s undersecretary for farm production and conservation; Dalynn Hoch, head of RCIS for Zurich North America; and Tim Glenn, executive vice president of Corteva Agriscience’s seed business unit.
Lawmakers propose updates to heirs’ property relending program
Representatives Jasmine Crockett, D-Tex., and Alma Adams, D-N.C., are proposing updates to the Heirs’ Property Relending Program, noting that “not a single dollar has been loaned out to a producer since the program’s creation in 2018.”
The program is intended to help producers navigate legal complications stemming from the death of a landowner without a will.
The Community Development Financial Institutions, which are in charge of getting money to producers, “receive the funds as a 1% loan from USDA,” the representatives noted in a one-pager. But CDFIs “have found that they are unable to pay back the loan and cover administrative costs without charging such high interest rates to the producers that no one would use the program.”
The lawmakers are proposing in a new bill to allow lenders to use funds to cover administrative costs outright.
USDA continues listeria outbreak investigation
USDA is continuing its investigation into the cause of a listeria outbreak that has killed nine people, even as Boar’s Head closed the plant linked to the outbreak.
"The closure of this facility was a business decision,” said a USDA spokesperson in a statement. “However, despite the closure, USDA's investigation into factors that contributed to this outbreak, including but not limited to an in-depth look at other Boar's Head facilities, will continue in the interest of best protecting public health.”
On Friday, Boar’s Head announced it would indefinitely close its Jarratt, Virginia, plant and stop making liverwurst products.
The plant and the product were linked to a listeria outbreak that has resulted in nine deaths and at least 57 illnesses. USDA records also show the Jarratt plant had about 69 food safety violations between Aug. 1, 2023, to this Aug. 2.
The company said it did not take the decision lightly, but added that plant closure is the most “prudent” course. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union said it had reached an agreement with the company “that will provide our members with the opportunity to transfer to other Boar’s Head facilities or to accept a severance package well above and beyond what is required under the law.”
Bayer notches win in Philadelphia Roundup case
Bayer got a favorable verdict late last week when a Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jury found that a Pennsylvania man’s cancer did not result from his use of Roundup.
“The jury’s verdict in favor of the company marks the 14th favorable outcome in the last 20 trials and validates the company’s strategy of taking cases to trial based on strong scientific and regulatory evidence,” Bayer said in a statement.
The attorney for plaintiff Ryan Young told the Philadelphia Inquirer he was disappointed in the verdict but noted that the jury “did send a message to Monsanto that Roundup is defective.”
Bayer also said it was actively working to apply a federal 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling to other Roundup cases “and looks forward to presenting its arguments, as fully embraced by the Third Circuit, at trial courts, appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Reagan administration officials endorse Harris
Seventeen alumni of the Reagan administration, including a former high-ranking USDA official, are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
Robert Thompson, senior staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers and assistant secretary for economics at USDA, is among those who signed a statement saying the election is “a choice between integrity and demagoguery, and the choice must be Harris-Walz.” In addition, they said, “The choice between truth and lies demands support for Harris-Walz.” Thompson is a professor emeritus of ag policy at the University of Illinois.
The Harris campaign says in addition to the 17 officials announced Saturday, “230 former Republican staffers who served Republican presidents and presidential campaigns and 12 Republican former White House lawyers” have endorsed her.
Trump’s own administration includes dozens of former allies who have spoken out against him. They include former Vice President Mike Pence and former Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Final word: "You go into some of these negotiations, and sometimes you're going to have to do higher tariffs. Sometimes you might be able to do lower tariffs, but I don't think you go in saying you're going to do exactly this on every country. You use that as part of the negotiation.” – Vice presidential candidate JD Vance, saying on CBS’ Face the Nation that former President Donald Trump’s tariff proposals should be seen as a negotiating tactic.
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