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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Thursday, December 19, 2024
President Donald Trump agreed Friday to end the five-week-old partial shutdown of USDA and other major departments and agencies, essentially bowing to demands from Democrats that the government reopen while negotiations on border security continue.
The budget impasse that has closed down most of USDA and other agencies important to agriculture for more than four weeks reaches a new stage this week as Senate Republicans force a vote on President Donald Trump’s latest proposal to congressional Democrats.
A House-Senate agreement on USDA’s fiscal 2019 budget includes non-binding language that raises concerns about the cost of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s plan to move the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture out of the nation’s capital.
About half the Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency offices will reopen temporarily during the government shutdown, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced Wednesday.
In the regulatory picture for 2019, the top issue for aggies is probably the “waters of the United States” proposal, but there are many other items on the agenda for agriculture in the coming year.
Reports out of China where U.S. and Chinese negotiators — including USDA officials — have been working for the past three days to end the ongoing trade war are so far positive, and that’s a good sign for the U.S. chicken industry.
The Department of Agriculture will continue to accept applications for the Market Facilitation Program past Jan. 15 in light of the shutdown that has closed Farm Service Agency offices across the country.
The partial government shutdown that has shuttered much of USDA, the Interior Department and other agencies heads into its third week amid weekend discussions over President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding.
House Democrats are setting the stage for a possible court battle with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue over his plan to make it harder for states to get waivers from food stamp work requirements.
Lawmakers face a packed agenda when the new Congress begins on Thursday, starting with finding a resolution to the government shutdown that hit USDA, the Interior Department and other departments and agencies in December.
