Agri-Pulse Daybreak for October 12, 2016
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2016 - The Wikileaks dump of emails
from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, show that her advisers
considered her position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership to be a “close call.”
In an October
2015 email, a Clinton speechwriter warned that the campaign had to be
careful in wording her statement of opposition to the 12-nation trade deal
since she had once supported it.
“This is indeed a hard balance to strike, since we don't
want to invite mockery for being too enthusiastically opposed to a deal she
once championed, or over-claiming how bad it is, since it's a very close call
on the merits,” the staffer wrote.
Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Clinton for once
saying that the TPP would be the “gold standard” of trade deals. Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack defends Clinton, saying she made the remarks before the
deal was final.
GMO labeling advocate tried to influence Clinton. The
email traffic also shows that a leader of the GMO labeling movement made
numerous attempts to shape Clinton’s message on biotechnology and on labeling
legislation pending in the Senate.
In several emails, Gary Hirshberg warned that Sen. Bernie
Sanders was getting to the left of Clinton on the biotech issue. “A solid
statement in opposition” to legislation proposed by Senate Agriculture Chairman
Pat Roberts “would go a long way to putting an end to this flank of Bernie's
support,” Hirshberg wrote in
February.
Hirshberg, chairman of Stonyfield Farm and the Just Label It
campaign, had forwarded Podesta an email from a consumer advocate who suggested
Clinton couldn’t be trusted on the biotech issue.
In another email in
December 2015, Hirshberg said it was “clear that she does not have a consistent
message” on the labeling issue. But it’s not obvious what Hirschberg’s
complaint was. His email came in response to a question about whether GMOs
should be labeled. Clinton had responded that she supported state labeling
requirements and opposed a proposed policy rider that would have preempted
Vermont’s labeling law.
Hirshberg, who held a fundraiser with Clinton in the summer
of 2015, couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday. The executive director of
Just Label It, Scott Faber, said there “wasn’t a single policy maker” he didn’t
lobby for mandatory GMO labeling. Faber said he didn’t know what Hirshberg may
have discussed with Clinton herself.
Podesta’s headache advice: Quit the GMOs. Podesta said
little in the correspondence about his views on GMOs, but the campaign director
did have some unusual advice on biotech food in response to an aide who was
suffering from a migraine. “Take care of yourself and cut out the gmo’s,” the email says.
Vilsack keynotes Food Prize conference. This
year’s World Food Prize conference, the Borlaug Dialogue, begins today in
Des Moines, Iowa. Vilsack is expected to talk on Thursday about the Global Food
Security Act, which writes into law for the first time President Obama’s
$1-billion-a-year Feed the Future initiative. Vilsack will also talk about how
innovation is needed to alleviate hunger around the world.
Grassley: No vote on Garland. Senate Judiciary Chairman
Chuck Grassley warns that the next new Supreme Court justice could have an
impact on the way that agriculture is regulated. But he ruled out a vote on
President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, even though some observers believe
he would be more moderate than someone a President Clinton might pick.
“If we had time (on the calendar), we wouldn’t do it,”
Grassley said when asked if Garland could still get a vote.
Grassley said Clinton would nominate justices that would
vote “for more government regulation and giving EPA all the power the EPA
thinks it has. . . you’re going to have 5-4 or 6-3 decisions against private
property.”
You can listen to more of Grassley’s comments on Clinton by clicking here.
Cruz reaching out to Texas farmers. Sen. Ted Cruz, who
had to be persuaded to reverse his vote in favor of a cut in crop insurance
earlier in this Congress, is assuring Texas farmers that he “strongly” supports
the program. During a tour of farms around the Texas panhandle that wrapped up
yesterday, Cruz called crop insurance “a vital function of the federal
government,” according to a news
account.
Cruz, who was a top contender for the GOP nomination, voted
for a cut in crop insurance in a budget deal but switched his vote after
getting advice from Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
Cruz also reiterated this week that he voted against the
2014 farm bill primarily because he thought it allowed too much spending on
nutrition assistance.
He said it. “Sometimes the barn is so infested with
rats you just have to burn the damn thing down and start over.” - John Weaver,
a campaign adviser to Ohio Sen. John Kasich, on Twitter
Spencer Chase contributed to this report.
#30
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