Derrick Cain

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2014 – Nutrition assistance programs are a familiar battlefront in Congress, but the fighting is usually over spending levels. It was a different story Tuesday when a House subcommittee met and approved a FY 2015 funding bill for USDA and the FDA

The U.S. House of Representatives easily passed the bipartisan Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) conference report on Tuesday by a whopping 412-4 margin.

Several agriculture-related stakeholders and lawmakers have been expressing concerns about an unreliable and slow transportation infrastructure system involving trucks and rail.

Congress appears to be closing in on passage of legislation aimed at improving the nation’s waterways system, according to lawmakers and stakeholders.

Idaho is poised to become the latest testing ground for a program to allow state convicts to work on private farms during crucial growing and harvesting period. The new law was enacted as Congress seems unable to address agricultural workforce issues as part of comprehensive immigration reform.

Supporters of immigration reform legislation that would create a pathway to legal status for many of the nation’s undocumented farm workers are keeping up their push for legislation that Congress could approve this year.

A proposed rule from the National Labor Relations Board dealing with a faster unionization process for workers at U.S. companies has drawn the ire of the poultry sector. The U. S. Poultry & Egg Association, National Chicken Council, and National Turkey Federation recently submitted comments opposin

After the Senate Finance Committee easily approved a package of what Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., suggested would be the “last” package of one-year tax extenders, the focus this week turned to the House Ways and Means Committee which appears headed down a very different path.

The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing yesterday to examine the role advanced biofuels play in the rural economy – and to gather evidence to persuade the EPA not to follow through on its proposal to cut the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Legislation aimed at improving rural telephone service in terms of call completion and at cracking down on carriers that allegedly discriminate against rural customers is winding through Congress.