Agri-Pulse Daybreak for June 8, 2016
WASHINGTON, June 8, 2016 - Hillary Clinton has made history,
becoming the first woman to claim a major party’s presidential nomination. In
her victory speech last night, Clinton wasted little time in setting the tone
for her general election campaign. She called the presumptive GOP nominee,
Donald Trump, “temperamentally unfit” for the presidency.
Trump spoke earlier in the evening, and he appealed directly
to Bernie Sanders’ voters for their support. Trump pointed out that he shared
Sanders’ opposition to U.S. trade deals.
In other races yesterday, North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers became
the first House Republican to lose a re-election bid this year. She
lost to Rep. George Holding, who ran in her district this year because of a
court-mandated redistricting.
Roberts, Stabenow talk GMO labeling. Sen. Chuck
Grassley told reporters yesterday that he’s seen no evidence of progress in
negotiations over GMO labeling. But Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat
Roberts and ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow both say they want to reach an
agreement on GMO labeling and they talked about the issue during votes on the
Senate floor late yesterday afternoon.
Roberts said they agreed to keep talking on ways to get the
60 votes that they need. Stabenow told Agri-Pulse that it’s up to
Roberts to find enough GOP support; Roberts said he’s working on his fellow
Republicans but can only make so many concessions to Democrats.
The president of the National Association of State
Departments of Agriculture, Nebraska Agriculture Director Greg Ibach, urged the
senators to reach a deal. “The time to act is now. Congress must come to a
solution that provides America’s farmers, ranchers, and food manufacturers with
federal preemption for GMO labeling,” he said.
For more on the biotech labeling issue, be sure and check
out this week’s issue of the Agri-Pulse
newsletter.
Vilsack leaving framework for cotton aid. USDA
officials say the payments they’re offering to cotton producers are a one-time
form of assistance. But Val Dolcini, administrator of the Farm Service Agency,
concedes that the program sets a framework that his successor could use to
provide additional payments in 2017. “My focus is on this year’s program. I’ll
leave it up to my successor to provide next year’s,” Dolcini told Agri-Pulse.
Cotton producers wanted the department to make cotton seed
eligible for the Price Loss Coverage. That would have provided a long-term form
of assistance and a funding source for the next farm bill. But Dolcini made
clear that’s a dead issue for this administration. Dolcini said Vilsack was
“pretty unambiguous” that he doesn’t have the legal authority to add cotton seed
to PLC.
About 37,000 producers are expected to be eligible for the
payments. Dolcini said the money will go out soon after producers complete
their applications.
Panel demands interviews with EPA officials on glyphosate. A
House committee chairman is demanding interviews with four EPA officials over
the agency’s role in the World Health Organization’s deliberations over the
safety of glyphosate. In a letter to
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Science, Space and Technology Chairman Lamar
Smith says he’s concerned about the integrity of the process that the WHO’s
International Agency for Research on Cancer used in making its decision that
the herbicide could cause cancer.
The Texas Republican also says he wants to know what
influence EPA had on the IARC deliberations. The officials that Smith wants to
interview are in EPA’s Office of Research and Development and its Office of
Pesticide Programs.
House voting on weakening new smog rule. The White
House is threatening to veto a bill that the House votes on today to weaken new
requirements on states to reduce smog levels. The Ozone Standards
Implementation Act would give states more time and flexibility to implement new
limits for ground-level ozone.
The American Farm Bureau Federation, National Corn Growers
Association, National Cotton Council and the Fertilizer Institute joined the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a variety of chemical and petroleum groups in
signing a letter in support of the bill. There has been concern about how lower
ozone limits would affect some rural areas.
Obama pays tribute to late wife of Cesar Chavez. Helen
Chavez, the widow of United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez, died this week
at age 88. President Obama calls Mrs. Chavez a “force of quiet strength” who
“left a legacy that will echo for generations. “Alongside her husband,
Cesar, she devoted her life to organizing farmworkers in California and across
America, fighting for higher wages, better working conditions, and a brighter
future.”
He said it. “I’m the only senator who has seen him
spray his own hair. He carries his hair spray with him.” - Sen. Chuck Grassley,
R-Iowa, bantering with farm broadcaster Ken Root, who once tugged at Trump’s
hair at the candidate's request.
#30
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