Democrats on the House Ag Committee are starting to line up behind the candidates seeking to be the panel’s ranking member. Reps. Angie Craig, D-Minn., and Jim Costa, D-Calif., are challenging Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., for the minority’s top spot.
Scott is the most senior Democrat on the committee, followed by Costa. Craig was first elected to Congress in 2019 and joined the panel that same year.
Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., who serves as vice ranking chair of the committee, said he is supporting Scott to continue in the role. “We still have the farm bill ahead of us,” Davis said. “I think he’s been a good person to definitely work with as ranking member.”
Rep Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., said he’s leaning toward Craig given her success communicating with agriculture stakeholders and increasing margins in tough districts.
Craig, who noted she served on Scott’s whip team during his 2020 bid for committee chair, said that passing the farm bill, protecting the nutrition title and ensuring climate guardrails remain in place for conservation funding are top priorities for her.
“I think that this moment in time requires us to look at who has, on this committee in particular, the vision for moving not only the committee forward and empowering the members, but also the vision for how we help bridge the gap with Democrats in rural communities,” Craig said.
Scott’s take: He told Agri-Pulse Tuesday evening his fate as ranking member “is in God’s hands.” He said he’s reminding colleagues he’s “done a lot of good work.”
“I had a great surgery on my back to make sure I have an opportunity to continue to fight,” he said.
Agriculture Secretary nominee Brooke Rollins met with Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member John Boozman of Arkansas Tuesday. "I am encouraged by her determination, commitment and resolve to help rural families thrive," Boozman said. (Photo: Senate Ag Republicans)Senate Ag members named to Democratic leadership roles
Two Senate Agriculture Committee members have been named to the Democratic leadership for the next Congress.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who’s in line to be the committee’s ranking member in 2025, will chair the steering and policy committee, the No.3 leadership slot. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., will chair the strategic communications committee.
Economists: Tariff hikes unlikely to close trade deficit
Raising tariffs on U.S. imports as President-elect Donald Trump has threatened is unlikely to address one of his major economic grievances — the growing U.S. trade deficit — and could have the opposite effect, some economists say.
“When you put a tariff on in the U.S. economy, the exchange rate will appreciate. That'll make your exports more expensive. That'll start shifting the trade balance,” Warwick McKibbin, a professor of economics at the Australian National University, said during a panel Tuesday hosted by Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the Peterson Institute of International Economics.
Trump has long raised concern about the U.S. trade deficit, arguing trade imbalances hamper U.S. growth and job creation. In his first term, he tasked the Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to probe the underlying causes of persistent trade deficits. And he imposed sweeping tariffs on U.S. imports without closing the U.S. trade gap.
Trump is unlikely to fare any better in his deficit-trimming crusade in the next administration, the analysts warned, given that his other economic priority, cutting taxes, runs counter to the plan.
“The tax cuts that Trump is envisioning would also go further to strengthen the U.S. dollar,” said Maurice Obstfeld, a former member of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers and now a Peterson Institute senior fellow. “He doesn't understand the effects of these policies that are being proposed, which are very likely to be very counterproductive.”
Atrazine mitigation proposal takes into account higher contamination level
EPA has proposed new mitigation measures for atrazine to reduce impacts on non-target plants and federally listed threatened or endangered species.
The updated proposal would allow a higher level of the herbicide in receiving waters than previously sought by the agency. EPA had proposed to set the atrazine limit at 3.4 parts per billion. Grower groups said that would have affected vast swaths of farmland. The new level of 9.7 ppb is supported by findings from a scientific advisory panel that raised questions about studies used to come up with the 3.4 ppb level.
Why it matters: Under the latest proposal, a field located in a watershed with a predicted atrazine concentration above 9.7 ppb would need three points of mitigation. A field located in a watershed with a predicted concentration at or above 45.4 ppb would need six points of mitigation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and the Alaska delegation gathered Tuesday night to light the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, an 80-foot Sitka spruce from the Wrangell District Region in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest (Photo: Lydia Johnson).House passes bill to beef up enforcement of trade crimes, with eye on China
The House passed bipartisan legislation on Tuesday that, if enacted, would strengthen the enforcement of U.S. trade laws by establishing a Justice Department task force dedicated to prosecuting trade crimes like tariff evasion.
“While tariffs are one tool in our tool kit to level that playing field, we also must enforce our trade laws,” Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson argued on the House floor ahead of the vote.
Civil penalties have done little to deter trade crimes, lawmakers argued, stressing the need to grant the DOJ additional resources to criminally prosecute trade crimes, particularly those perpetrated by China.
Judge allows groups to intervene in Swampbuster lawsuit
A federal judge is allowing four groups to intervene in a lawsuit over the constitutionality of farm bill provisions that require USDA to withhold crop insurance benefits from farmers who fail to protect wetlands.
Iowa Farmers Union, the Iowa Environmental Council, Dakota Rural Action and Food and Water Watch had sought to join the suit in defense of USDA. The lawsuit was brought by Iowa landowner Jim Conlan, who is being represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Liberty Justice Center and the Upper Midwest Law Center.
Final word
“And here we were thinking y’all couldn’t afford eggs!” – Post on X by House Ways and Means Committee Democrats. The post, later deleted, was referring to record Black Friday spending by consumers this year.
House Speaker Mike Johnson led a series of Republicans in criticizing the post. “Americans have been struggling for FOUR YEARS to afford basic necessities and House Democrats are mocking them. Talk about your all-time out of touch, disgraceful comments,” he posted.
