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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Monday, December 30, 2024
The Democratic-controlled House passes President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion Build Back Better bill that includes $82 billion in agriculture provisions aimed at accelerating an historic shift toward climate-related farming practices.
House Democrats pushed through a $3.5 trillion budget resolution after moderates reached a deal promising them a vote by Sept. 27 on the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Major farm states are likely to lose influence in the U.S. House because of population shifts that are expected to result in lost seats across the Midwest as well as in Pennsylvania and New York.
The 117th Congress is officially underway with the swearing in of new members Sunday. The House includes a number of new members who could play a role in shaping food and agriculture policy, considering its importance to their districts.
The House will have several newcomers in key ag districts as voters elected new representatives in Minnesota, Kansas, Iowa, Texas and other states with Republican challengers defeating incumbent Democrats.
For the second straight year, Democrats threatened but ultimately backed down from blocking Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue from getting a fresh pot of money to make payments to farmers.
Congressional Republicans are hoping to win back the House this November, and the lawmaker leading the GOP campaign operation says that districts with rural and agricultural areas will be critical to winning the necessary 17 seats.
A pair of fiscal 2020 spending packages that will boost farm disaster relief, extend the biodiesel tax subsidy and bolster ag inspections at ports and airports easily cleared Congress on Thursday.
The House overwhelmingly approved the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on a 385-41 vote Thursday, sending the new North American trade pact to the Senate, where it should pass easily early next year.
Mexico is withdrawing its objection to a labor provision in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that threatened to derail the USMCA approval process, which is expected to take a major step forward this week in the U.S. House of Representatives.
