| | | | |  | | By Garrett Downs | Presented by Organization for Competitive Markets | With help from Meredith Lee Hill
| | — The bill to fund the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration through September includes an additional $1 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. — President Joe Biden is set to address the nation on Thursday in his State of the Union speech. As we’ve reported, he’s planning to address food inflation amid voter discontent on the economy. — The Iowa congressional delegation is pushing hard for E15 sales this summer, this time with a letter to Biden. HAPPY MONDAY, March. 4. I’m your host, Garrett Downs. I’ll be on vacation this week, so send your hot tips to my colleagues meredithlee@politico.com, marciabrown@politico.com and mmartinez@politico.com, and follow us at @Morning_Ag.
| | | | A message from Organization for Competitive Markets: Remember when China took over much of America’s pork industry in 2013? Brace yourself: Rep. Ashley Hinson and Sen. Roger Marshall’s EATS Act (H.R. 4417/S. 2019) will strengthen China's stronghold on U.S. Agriculture. EATS undermines state laws, allowing the Chinese-dominated pork industry to evade regulations. Urge Congress to reject this attack on states’ rights and oppose any version of this controversial pork carveout in the Farm Bill. Act now to prevent China's increasing domination of American agriculture. | | | | | | | | 
Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.). | Francis Chung/POLITICO | WIC GETS ITS $1 BILLION: Top lawmakers agreed to add an extra $1 billion to WIC for fiscal year 2024, likely staving off a rapidly approaching funding cliff that could have pushed eligible moms and babies onto waiting lists. The details: Under the agreement, WIC would be funded at just over $7 billion. That’s a major win for Democrats, who for months have pushed to boost WIC at the request of the White House, amid opposition from hard-right Republicans and House GOP negotiators. Some centrist House Republicans, however, pressed for House GOP leaders to approve the WIC funding boost, according to a person familiar with negotiations. “As we move forward, I hope my colleagues will realize that cutting WIC is not only deeply wrong but short-sighted—a dollar spent on WIC saves taxpayers more than a dollar in the future,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray(D-Wash.) said in a statement. SNAP-choice nixed: House Republicans, backed by leadership, made an incredibly stiff push to tie the additional WIC funds to Rep. Andy Harris’s (R-Md.) pilot to restrict the kind of foods recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program can buy, known as SNAP-choice, as POLITICO first reported. The SNAP-choice pilot was blocked from the final bill, a blow to Harris, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Ag-FDA subcommittee and a Freedom Caucus member. Grocers, anti-hunger groups and food companies lobbied intensely against the move. Though some nutrition advocates argue such a move could help improve health outcomes for millions of low-income Americans. “I am surprised that the Democrats, who are so interested in health equity, adamantly opposed converting the SNAP program to a healthier food program, which would result in healthier outcomes for minorities overrepresented in the SNAP program,” Harris said in a statement after the bill text was released. Riders stripped away: The agreement nixed nearly every controversial rider in the initial GOP-led House Ag-FDA bill. That includes riders to ban mail-order of the abortion pill mifepristone, restrict the use of the Commodity Credit Corporation and end the USDA’s rulemakings to beef up the Packers and Stockyards Act, a 1921 competition law. By the numbers: The USDA and FDA are funded at a little over $26.2 billion under the agreement, roughly the same as current levels. That includes a $2.5 million boost for Packers and Stockyards Act enforcement. SNAP is funded at $119 billion, which Democrats say is enough to account for full program participation. A number of cuts from fiscal 2023 were made. The Farm Service Agency is funded at $1.209 billion, about six million dollars below fiscal 2023. The Natural Resources Conservation Service is funded at $914.9 billion, $26 million below fiscal 2023. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is funded at $1.162 billion, a $9 million cut. What’s next: Congress this week will race to pass the minibus that includes the Ag-FDA bill before a partial shutdown on Saturday morning.
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| | |  President Joe Biden is expected to pin high grocery costs on "shrinkflation" and "corporate greed" in his State of the Union address. | Susan Walsh/AP | BIDEN TO ADDRESS NATION: Biden will deliver the State of the Union address Thursday, and as Meredith and Adam Cancryn have reported he is expected to pin high grocery costs on “shrinkflation” and “corporate greed.” Food inflation has been a persistent drag on Biden’s economic standing with voters. A New York Times/Siena College poll released over the weekend found that only 7 percent of registered voters believe the economy is “excellent.” That’s compared to 51 percent of registered voters who believe the economy is “poor.” What the White House is thinking: “It’s about framing this for the American people,” a White House official who was granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations told Meredith and Adam. Biden’s open frustration with tactics like shrinkflation, the official added, “speaks to what they feel in a way that’s useful for us both in terms of messaging and making sure they understand that the president sees what’s going on.” The challenge: With voter sentiment on the economy so poor, Biden will need to use the stage to change some minds. But it remains to be seen whether shrinkflation and corporate greed will stick in the minds of voters when the president himself has very few levers to pull to lower food costs. GOP response: Biden is also battling a persistent GOP messaging campaign that for years has pinned high food costs on his policies. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to respond to Biden last week on the Senate floor, a potential window into how Republicans will respond should Biden broadside the food industry. “President Biden calls shrinkflation a rip-off, but the American people know the real rip-off is the historic inflation that shrunk their paychecks,” McConnell said.
| | | | A message from Organization for Competitive Markets:   | | | | | FIRST IN MA — IOWA PENS BIDEN: The entire Iowa delegation requested Biden issue an emergency waiver for the sale of E15 ethanol this summer, as he has done the past two years. In a letter, the lawmakers urged Biden to “once again issue an emergency waiver to allow for the summertime sale of E15, extending the Reid vapor pressure (RVP) waiver from June 1 through September 15.” “The summertime sale of E15 has supported farmers, created and sustained jobs, reduced our dependence on foreign oil, and given consumers a choice at the pump,” they added. Follow-up message: The same lawmakers wrote to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan last week urging the agency to “immediately” implement its rule allowing year-round sales of gasoline blends containing 15 percent ethanol. The agency last month finalized a long-stalled rule allowing eight Midwestern states to sell E15 during the summer months, but it delayed the rule’s implementation until 2025. What they’re saying: “EPA can either implement its year-round E-15 authorization now, or the president can direct the agency to issue a summertime waiver like he’s done in the past. Regardless, farmers and consumers in Iowa and nationwide deserve certainty, so I’m calling on the Biden administration to get the job done,” Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley told MA.
| | | | Don’t sleep on it. Get breaking New York policy from POLITICO Pro—the platform that never sleeps—and use our Legislative Tracker to see what’s on the Albany agenda. Learn more. | | | | | | | | — As fires burn across Texas, Kansas and Nebraska, ranchers face huge losses. (The New York Times) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back on criticism of the fast food minimum wage law. (The Associated Press) THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line: gdowns@politico.com, meredithlee@politico.com, marciabrown@politico.com, mmartinez@politico.com, abehsudi@politico.com and ecadei@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Organization for Competitive Markets: No one wants China to emerge as the winner from Congress passing the 2024 Farm Bill, but that’s unfortunately what Rep. Hinson and Sen. Marshall are working toward with their EATS Act (H.R. 4417/S. 2019). They say it will eliminate “burdensome” regulations. But these state level safeguards effectively deter wholesale further takeover by foreign conglomerates. EATS is a gift to China’s multinational corporations, like “万洲国际/WH Group”, which in 2013 acquired Smithfield, the largest pork producer in the U.S., financed by the Chinese Communist Party.
By eliminating state laws, EATS Act enables China to more rapidly takeover American agriculture. It sets a precedent that’s rattling other corners of agriculture, too. Take it from Mike Schultz, founder of the Kansas Cattlemen’s Association: “The EATS Act will put family farmers out of business and give multinational conglomerates like the Chinese-owned Smithfield an even greater advantage to run the table on us than they already have.” | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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