Politics

RSS

Democrats face some strong headwinds as they try to win back rural voters, and one of those challenges remains former President Trump himself.

President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have two weeks before their next deadline to reach an agreement on his Build Back Better plan to expand social programs and attack climate change.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will be part of the U.S. delegation to the international climate conference that starts Oct. 31 in Glasgow, a USDA spokeswoman confirms.

The Biden administration needs to concentrate on negotiating to gain increased access to foreign markets for U.S. ag exporters – especially in Asia – or risk falling further behind in the international race to increase trade ties, according to a diverse panel of experts gathered Thursday by Farmers for Free Trade.

Food prices shot up in September, prompting a new volley from the White House over consolidation in the meat industry.

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday agreements by ports, dockworkers, railroads, trucking companies, labor unions and retailers to drastically expand their hours of operation to ease distribution bottlenecks.

Democratic congressional leaders are under pressure from progressives to fund as many social programs as possible as the Build Back Better plan is pared back. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Tuesday that discussions are continuing about what to fund.

More than $90 billion in agriculture spending, including a 50% increase in conservation program funding, is at stake as congressional Democrats wrangle over how to pare back their $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill to woo critical moderate votes.

Whether it's backlogs at ports delaying the arrival of containers from China, congestion at railroad hubs, or slowdowns at American manufacturing plants, farmers and ranchers are seeing rising prices and mounting delays for machinery, spare parts, packaging material, inputs and other supplies they need to bring in their crops and market their commodities.

The Department of Agriculture will require all federal employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by November 22, except those who are “legally entitled to a reasonable or religious accommodation,” according to a workplace safety plan outlining the department's pandemic response.