News: Senators fight for farm bill drought relief

Monday, June 24, 2024

Senators fight for farm bill drought relief

Jun 24, 2024

Presented by

With help from Meredith Lee Hill and Jordan Wolman

Michael Bennet | Getty Images

Senate Ag subcommittee Chair Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) is looking to highlight the impacts of growing drought on agriculture during a field hearing this week. | Scott Olson/Getty Images

QUICK FIX

— Key Senate Ag lawmakers are hitting the road this week to highlight the extensional threat that growing drought poses to farmers and the U.S. food supply, as some Democrats push for more relief in the farm bill.

— The partisan funding fight over the farm bill is also escalating following new budget projections.

— Packaging producers are backing legislation to reform recycling labels — but only if it preempts a California law.

IT’S MONDAY, JUNE 24. Welcome to Morning Agriculture! I’m your host Grace Yarrow, and I did not eat dog food for this newsletter (sorry to disappoint). Send tips to gyarrow@politico.com and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

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Driving the day

DROUGHT HEARING: The Senate Ag subcommittee on conservation, climate, forestry and natural resources will focus on federal drought investments this week during a trip this week to Colorado and Kansas.

In the farm bill: Key Senate Democrats have been pushing in public and private for months to boost investments in the farm bill for ag producers facing severe drought, especially in the West.

One Senate Ag Democrat told us earlier this year that committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and her team have always been “willing to listen” to calls for more funding to address the impacts of devastating and widespread drought. But the senator said they hope “there’s an understanding of the policy ramifications” if their farm bill plans don’t do enough.

Lawmakers like vulnerable incumbent Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) have been pushing for Senate Democrats to put more funding behind drought programs.

Some have also called on the Biden administration to expand strict climate guardrails around billions in agriculture funding from the Inflation Reduction Act so the money can be more easily spent on drought mitigation efforts.

Subcommittee plans: As heat is scorching a huge part of the country and lawmakers push to address the shrinking amount of water in many states, Senate Ag leaders are soliciting feedback from western producers on problems with current federal drought programs during a subcommittee field hearing Wednesday.

In an interview with MA, subcommittee Chair Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said Stabenow has incorporated a “huge amount” of drought improvements in her farm bill plans. But there are a few programs he’d like to see bolstered, like groundwater easement programs he’s pitched.

Bennet told MA it’d be a “shame” to not get a farm bill done this year and give producers more “predictability” in the face of high input costs and challenging drought conditions. He’s been vocal about drought provisions in the farm bill and led a letter earlier this year to Stabenow to include drought funding.

USDA obstacles: Bennet said he “generally” hears from producers that USDA and other federal relief programs need more flexibility, funding and better staffing, themes he’s hoping to address in Wednesday’s hearing in Burlington, Colorado.

“What we're going to hear is people say there's too much red tape at USDA, that the agency is inadequately funded,” Bennet said.

Marshall’s POV: Subcommittee ranking member Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said he’s looking forward to hearing this week about how well federal water conservation programs are working for producers.

“We must get water conservation programs right in the upcoming farm bill so our country maintains a robust food supply and avoids increased reliance on foreign nations for products we are capable of producing domestically,” Marshall told MA.

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On the Hill

FUNDING UP IN THE AIR: The fight over farm bill funding is heating up following an updated Congressional Budget Office report released last week.

CCC spending: In a new budget estimate for the 2024 to 2034 period released last week, the CBO projected that USDA will spend $12 billion from the discretionary authority the secretary has over the Commodity Credit Corp.

That’s far less than the $50 billion in savings that House Republicans say they can squeeze for use in the farm bill by limiting that authority, as Marc Heller from POLITICO's E&E News reported last week.

Stabenow hammered House Republicans' proposal following the CBO report for using “magic math.” But House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) shot back in a statement criticizing Stabenow for not publishing a full farm bill text.

The bill text question: Republicans have blasted Stabenow for not releasing complete bill text to answer funding questions.

Stabenow told us last week that her team is working on pieces of bill text, but that her colleagues don’t “need bill text, that’s normally hard to read, in order to understand what my farm bill is.”

She’s told us she won’t hold a markup on a complete bill until there’s “bipartisan agreement” on the policies within — a near-impossible feat given current disagreements on nutrition and climate policies and escalating partisan fights.

Senate Ag Committee ranking member John Boozman (R-Ark.) said on Thursday that he’d been having meetings with Stabenow but that he hadn’t seen the new CBO report.

Senate funding talks: Stabenow has told other senators that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has agreed to take $5 billion from the Finance Committee to fund the farm bill.

In a brief interview with MA in recent weeks, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, told us he’s been “talking about the financing” of the farm bill with colleagues.

“It's particularly important. We will find a way to get it done,” Wyden said.

MA asked Wyden if he had told Republicans on his committee about the plans for Democrats to use funds from his panel for the farm bill. He declined to detail any conversations.

A message from American Beverage Association:

Another extension looming: Lawmakers are set to miss the Sept. 30 deadline to pass a new farm bill and have told us they don’t need to pass an extension before then.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told us last week that Senate Ag leaders are starting to look at the possibility of passing another extension.

“I think the best bet is that once everybody knows the outcome of the election, then they'll know whether they can put together a deal in the lame duck session, or if it actually goes to the new year with just an extension,” Rounds said.

Other priorities: In a sign farm bill talks are stagnant, Stabenow’s team has been meeting with cryptocurrency stakeholders and is pushing for a committee vote on her crypto bill as soon as this summer, as our Eleanor Mueller reported last week.

Boozman said he has been “working closely” with Stabenow on getting feedback on the draft legislation, which would revamp the CFTC’s role in regulating crypto. The House passed a similar overhaul last month.

PACKAGING CRACKDOWN: A federal effort to regulate recycling labels on consumer packaging could end up preempting California's first-in-the-nation law to crack down on misleading uses of the "chasing arrows" symbol if the packaging industry gets its way, our Jordan Wolman reports.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and industry and environmental groups are working on draft legislation to create federal standards for when beverage containers, food service products and packaging can don a compostable, recyclable or reusable label.

Packaging producers are trying to preempt a similar California law, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.

A Merkley spokesperson emphasized that the legislation remains in early stages. Merkley told POLITICO in a statement that “there is clearly bipartisan appetite in Congress to provide consumers with clear and accurate labeling.”

Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more.

Row Crops

— Bayer is lobbying hard for congressional protections from lawsuits. (The Washington Post)

— Today marks the deadline for senators to sign onto a push by Rounds to include mandatory country of origin labeling of beef products in the next farm bill.

— Democrats once nicknamed Mitch McConnell the “Grim Reaper” for killing their bills. Conservatives say the next Senate GOP leader needs to go further, our Ursula Perano and Burgess Everett report.

— American Express is buying the restaurant booking platform Tock. (Reuters)

THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line and send us your agriculture job announcements or events: gyarrow@politico.com, meredithlee@politico.com, marciabrown@politico.com, abehsudi@politico.com and ecadei@politico.com.

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