Welcome to the new year, and a new, GOP-controlled Congress. Lawmakers are facing some tough debates and choices when the 119th Congress kicks off Friday, starting off with Mike Johnson’s bid for re-election as House speaker.
The GOP would like to avoid the infighting that was on display during the dramatic effort to pass short-term government funding in December. President-elect Donald Trump urged Republicans to re-elect Johnson, R-La., and Elon Musk also shared his support for the speaker.
The problem for Johnson’s hardline conservative critics is there’s no evidence any other Republican could get more votes, a challenge Trump has noted. And Republicans won’t want to see a repeat of what happened in October 2023, when the GOP speakership battle dragged on for three weeks.
Keep in mind: A speaker must be elected to swear in members to certify the 2024 presidential election results next Monday. Congress then faces a deadline as early as Jan. 14 to raise the national debt limit, after which the Treasury Department will need to take “extraordinary measures” to prevent a default, Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to congressional leaders last week.
In December, Trump pushed Republicans to suspend the debt limit for two years as part of a stopgap spending bill. But Republicans ultimately agreed to punt the debt limit increase to the upcoming budget reconciliation process. That increase could be paired with $2.5 trillion in spending cuts.
By the way: Republicans have released the new House rules package for the 119th Congress. Notably, one new rule would require someone making a motion to vacate the speakership to have eight co-sponsors.
In the 118th Congress a single member could force such a vote, which happened in the case of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. The new rule reflects a deal worked out between GOP hardliners and moderates in November.
The rules package also would continue the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party with a Dec. 31, 2026, deadline for policy recommendations and reports. The package also would fast-track a series of priority bills, including several aimed at cracking down on immigrants who have committed theft and other crimes.
New Republicans to join Senate Ag Committee
The Senate Agriculture Committee will have some new faces on the Republican side.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., has been added to the panel, along with incoming Sen. Jim Justice, R-W. Va. Gone from the GOP side of the committee is Mike Braun, who was elected governor of Indiana. John Boozman is taking over as committee chair.
In addition to Boozman, Moran and Justice, the rest of the Republican committee members are Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; John Hoeven of North Dakota; Joni Ernst of Iowa; Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Roger Marshall of Kansas; Tommy Tuberville of Alabama; Chuck Grassley of Iowa; Deb Fischer of Nebraska; and John Thune of South Dakota, the new Senate majority leader.
Market relief payments to vary significantly by state, crop
Payments under the $10 billion economic assistance package passed by Congress in December will likely range from an average of $28 per acre in Montana to a high of $71 per acre in Georgia, according to a forthcoming report from Terrain.
Texas will be the largest recipient of funding, followed by Iowa, according to both the upcoming Terrain report and an earlier one we reported on that was produced by the University of Missouri.
The state-level funding amounts reflect both the mix of commodities farmers grow and the estimated level of payments. Payment rates will vary significantly depending on the commodity, based on the formula laid out in the legislation.
GOP senator: Biden’s trade talks an attempt to ‘shackle’ Trump
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., is accusing President Biden of trying to tie Trump’s hands on trade policy, following reports that the outgoing administration has been working to overhaul investment chapters of key trade deals.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce in December charged that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has been “secretly” renegotiating language on investment protections in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and a separate deal with Colombia.
“These misguided talks will rob American companies of protections that have enabled investment in foreign-trade-partner nations,” Britt said in a letter published by the Wall Street Journal, painting them as an “attempt to shackle the coming Trump administration.”
President Biden has opposed investor protections in trade deals that allow companies to challenge unfavorable government policies. Trump, however, also set new limits on the protections when negotiating the USMCA, arguing fewer protections for U.S. investments overseas could promote domestic investment.
FDA begins testing raw cow’s milk cheese for H5N1
FDA has started sampling U.S. raw cow’s milk cheese for the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
The sampling is expected to be completed by the end of March 2025 and will include 300 samples of cheese aged at least 60 days. The agency plans to publish the findings after all testing and analysis.
FDA said it wants to find out if viable H5N1 virus is present in the cheese and take necessary follow-up actions to protect consumers. The FDA will evaluate follow-up steps on a case-by-case basis if a viable virus is detected in a sample. This could include a recall, follow-up inspection or other options.
This latest effort builds on USDA’s national milk testing strategy for H5N1. This includes a federal order requiring raw, unpasteurized milk samples to be provided to the agency upon request.
