There’s been a huge swell in lobbying activities in Washington during the COVID-19 pandemic as Congress swiftly enacts policies to help those impacted. Events like the COVID-19 pandemic typically alter the course for many sectors toward technologies and different methods they should have been using all along. So, it begs the question why are some government relations firms charging their clients $40,000, $50,000 and $80,000 per quarter? It’s outrageous. #Smartworking government relations firms will never cost that much.
WRDA Signed Into Law, Now on Two-Year Reauthorization Cycle
Recently, President Obama signed the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) authorizing EPA, (Environmental Protection Agency) to provide assistance for a wide variety of projects including $170 million in aid to Flint, Michigan to help repair its drinking water system.
In a bill-signing ceremony at the White House, The President explained how WRDA will “put Americans to work modernizing our water infrastructure and restoring some of our most vital ecosystems.…
Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) projects will be evaluated individually by the Administrator of EPA based on criteria in the rule and a previously issued Notice of Funds Available (NOFA). Once a project is selected for a loan individual credit agreements will be developed in negotiations between Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the project sponsor.…
In the rule, the EPA estimates the national funding need for capital improvements for such facilities totals approximately $660 billion over the next 20 years. The vast majority of that need, 90% or $591 billion, is for repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of existing infrastructure.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Earlier this year U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation, “It seems like the politics of trade have become rather toxic” referring to the anti-trade mood in the U.S. Strong protectionism views went on to become major themes in the presidential campaigns of the two major political parties. This is a striking contradiction for the U.S. that has long championed itself as a supporter of free trade.…
The debate that preceded the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill was the most contentious in recent history. In a video article on From The Ground Up on KBTX, the Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture had this to say …
The agriculture industry is experiencing a dramatic downturn as commodities pile up and prices fall to historic lows. Some in the ag industry are hoping the next Farm Bill can help — sooner as opposed to later. With farm loans steadily deteriorating, many farm groups are hoping to get the Farm Bill process started early.
We’re Not in 2013 Anymore
“The last time we did a farm bill in 2014 our production agriculture industry was having really good times. Commodity prices were good,” said Mike Conaway, U.S. Congressman, Texas’ 11th Congressional District, and Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture. “Well, in 2018, I don’t think that’s going to be the case. We’ve already experienced a 42% drop in production farm income.”…
We have reviewed the potential impacts of the 2016 elections on pertinent congressional committees that are important to our clients’ issues. Here’s what we’ve found:
U.S. House
UPDATE 12/01/2016
Today the House Republican Steering Committee met and recommended the Members below for committee chairs in the 115th Congress:
Agriculture: Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) Appropriations: Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) Armed Services: Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX)…
Below is a list of the 53 incoming freshman members of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 115th Congress. There are 26 new Republicans and 27 new Democrats.
After the 2016 general elections, Republicans maintained majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives with (currently) 239 of the 435 seats. Democrats currently hold 193 seats. To date, there remain three House races undecided that will impact the final numbers in the U.S. House: Louisiana congressional district 4 will be decided in a run-off election on December 10 and two California districts #7 and #49 are awaiting final numbers.…
According to the November issue of Fortune Magazine, while 2017 still may be a rough year for the financial markets, history shows us that after each election, no matter who wins, there is a dip in the market that corrects itself. We have the benefit of hindsight that the article’s author, Taylor Tepper, (a staff writer at Money) didn’t have. We KNOW the finale of the election results.
What comes through in the November article is: while The President can have a major impact on our day-to-day lives, presidential politics has a very minor impact on the stock markets. Over the long run.
It’s not as far off as you think, work on the 2018 Farm Bill
According to Brandon, Lawmakers’ approach to the 2014 farm bill was an effort to spend as little as possible, as opposed to creating programs to truly help farmers and rural America.
While many in agriculture are still trying to fathom the complexities of the 2014 farm bill and its implementation, members of Congress and ag sector leaders are already laying preliminary groundwork for the 2018 farm bill.”…
A Response to Emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution
Congress has begun to focus on recent mergers and acquisitions in the seed and agrochemical industry. This industry provides inputs to farmers for growing crops.
There are six companies involved in the research and development, manufacturing, and distribution of agrochemicals and biotech seeds, namely Bayer, BASF, Dow, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta. All compete with one another for market share while simultaneously working with each other through cross licensing agreements. Cross licensing agreements between companies result in the companies trading technologies and products under certain conditions that typically render enhanced choices of products for farmers and facilitates innovation.…
Since the 1930’s and the Great Depression about every 5-years the U.S. Congress adopts a Farm Bill. The Farm Bill contains production agriculture & food policies under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Farm Bill titles include Commodity Programs, Conservation, Trade, Nutrition, Credit, Rural Development, Research & Extension, Forestry, Energy, Horticulture and Crop Insurance.
Similar to U.S. demographics, Members of Congress today are further removed from the farm than in previous decades. Moreover, farm policy is complex as it includes public policies across varying sectors of the U.S. economy that impacts agriculture, the environment, international trade and social nutrition programs. As we mentioned in our previous farm bill article , Congress has struggled to timely adopt farm bills since the 1990’s.
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The Agricultural Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-79), or “2014 Farm Bill” authorizes the continuation of agricultural and other programs of the Department of Agriculture through September 30, 2018. Since the Great Depression in the 1930’s Congress has typically adopted a comprehensive Farm Bill every 5 years. However, since the mid-1990’s Congress has struggled to timely adopt farm bills.
Consider:
To save budget dollars the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-66) reduced and extended many commodity support provisions beyond 1995. Thus the 1995 Farm Bill wasn’t signed into law until April 1996.
What should have been a 2007 Farm Bill was not enacted until June 2008. It required six temporary extensions of most programs in the 2002 Farm Bill.
The 2008 Farm Bill had to be extended into 2013 and Congress adopted the 2014 Farm Bill in February of that year.
With farmers under financial pressures due to extraordinary low commodity prices farm organizations across America are gearing up for battle for the upcoming Farm Bill. The next Farm Bill will need to authorize programs for crop years 2019-2023. Ideally, a new farm bill should be adopted before any new crop harvest. The earliest crop harvest in 2019 will occur in mid-to-late May of 2019 when wheat harvest begins in South Texas. Dependent upon the complexities of policies adopted in the new Farm Bill the U.S. Department of Agriculture would likely need anywhere from 9-months-to-1-year to implement the Farm Bill. That means for the next farm bill, Congress should reauthorize farm programs by roughly September 2018.
Zippy Duvall, President, American Farm Bureau Federation
Mary Kay Thatcher, senior director of congressional relations with AFBF, told Hoosier Ag Today in a recent interview that their organization is anticipating testimony before the House and Senate Ag Committees as early as next spring.
Thatcher explained “..we’ve heard from our cotton producers and our dairy folks, that they don’t think the new programs that were put into effect are working for them. Fairly low participation in both programs and most folks feeling again like they just don’t provide an adequate safety net.”
According to Thatcher, here are some of the biggest challenges in writing a new farm bill:
“I’ve read both the presidential candidates policy platforms for agriculture and it just seems like neither of them care about us.” The statement above is from a farm wife in northeast Ohio — a state that will play a significant part in determining who the next President of the United States will be. She seemed…
