News: What’s next for ag policy

Monday, December 23, 2024

What’s next for ag policy

Dec 23, 2024

Capitol at night.

Congress' stopgap package included a one-year farm bill extension and $10 billion in economic aid for farmers. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP

With help from Marcia Brown and Meredith Lee Hill

QUICK FIX

— Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown, passing a spending bill with a farm bill extension and farm aid. But next year’s ag discussions could be affected by future GOP meltdowns.

— Brooke Rollins is getting positive reviews from senators who’ve met with her as Donald Trump’s landing team starts to arrive at USDA.

— In a hallmark victory for the Biden administration and U.S. corn industry, an international trade panel ruled that Mexico’s restrictions on genetically-modified corn violate free trade terms.

IT’S MONDAY, DEC. 23. Welcome to Morning Agriculture. I’m your host Grace Yarrow. What are your New Year’s ag policy resolutions? Send your 2025 farm bill goals to gyarrow@politico.com and follow us @Morning_Ag.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Starting Wednesday, we’ll be off for the next two weeks for the holidays. But MA will be back in your inboxes on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. See you next year!

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Driving the day

WRAPPING UP THE 118TH: In Congress’ last action of the year, the Senate passed a funding patch early Saturday with more than $110 billion in disaster aid, averting a government shutdown and closing out the 118th Congress.

Final passage of the bill capped a tumultuous week on Capitol Hill as lawmakers battled over last-minute demands of President-elect Donald Trump, spending on disaster aid and economic aid for farmers.

What’s in it: That package included a one-year farm bill extension and $10 billion in economic aid for farmers, which lawmakers in both parties — and powerful ag groups — had pressured Speaker Mike Johnson to include.

But it excluded a measure to allow year-round, permanent sales of E15 ethanol fuel at gas stations, infuriating corn state Republicans who had pushed hard for it to be included in the stopgap package.

Farm bill details: And the farm bill extension left out some funding for so-called orphan programs, including funding for research, conservation and energy programs. It’ll also affect producers of organic products, per Matthew Dillon, co-CEO of the Organic Trade Association.

“It hampers the ability of the National Organic Program to ensure the integrity of organic imports,” Dillon said in a statement.

The CR also excluded a measure to replenish SNAP funds for recipients whose benefits are stolen through card skimming.

“It is deeply shameful that some lawmakers, just before the holidays, have decided that people –who are victims of a crime, including children and seniors, should no longer have their stolen #SNAP benefits restored,” said Ty Jones Cox, vice president of food assistance at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in an X post.

LOOKING FORWARD: The lame-duck funding meltdown of last week is an incredibly bad sign for Johnson and any must-pass bills like the farm bill next Congress.

Lawmakers are already frustrated by partisan disagreements holding up farm bill talks this year. GOP negotiators will be in a position to push through some of their priorities on climate and nutrition policies in the farm bill, but they’ll still need bipartisan support to pass the reauthorization next Congress.

“The committee’s going to work very hard to get it done in a very bipartisan way,” incoming Senate Ag Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) told MA recently.

“What members are understanding right now is the very difficult situation that farmers are in right now.”

Dems’ concerns: Democrats in particular are in a tough spot with ongoing farm bill talks. They’ll have to negotiate against GOP majorities in the House and Senate in the next Congress.

Current Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said negotiators’ challenge will be to “try to get back to regular order in doing a five year farm bill.”

“I think they're going to have a challenge during all of it,” Stabenow told MA last week.

Top Ag committee Democrats in both chambers, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), will be new to those elevated roles next year and will have to take over the high-stakes discussions.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) told MA he’s “deeply disappointed” lawmakers couldn’t finish the reauthorization this year.

And Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) added that lawmakers “have to get down to business and get it done.”

“I’m glad that we got an extension, I’m glad that we have economic relief for farmers,” Smith told MA. “But at the end of the day, folks need the security and stability of a farm bill that’s fully authorized.”

Trump Transition

DEPSEC ANNOUNCMENT: Trump announced Sunday that he’d nominate Stephen Vaden, a judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade, to be deputy secretary of USDA.

Vaden was USDA’s general counsel during Trump’s first administration and a member of the board of the Commodity Credit Corporation. Several ag lobbyists previously told MA that Vaden was in the mix for a potential senior role at USDA.

USDA TRANSITION IN FULL SWING: USDA senior officials last week were notified that the Trump transition is underway and that some of his landing team officials have arrived at the department’s office, per a USDA internal email obtained by POLITICO.

Trump’s transition team had still not sent policy advisers to coordinate with federal agencies just earlier this month, threatening to delay preparations that will be key to executing the president-elect’s ambitious agenda.

ROLLINS ON THE HILL: Trump’s Agriculture secretary nominee is hearing a lot of trade concerns as she makes the rounds in the Senate ahead of her confirmation hearing.

Multiple senators who have met with Brooke Rollins, a former White House aide during Trump's first term, say they have brought up the importance of trade to farmers and the agriculture industry in their discussions. And Rollins herself acknowledged in a brief hallway interview on Capitol Hill that tariffs were one of the “top issues” senators have raised.

Trade and tariff policy will be a “big part of the chore” for Rollins in the administration, Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said in an interview on Wednesday.

“She understands the tariffs are gonna be challenging,” Hoeven added. “We went through this in Trump’s first term.”

Dem support: Rollins has met with a handful of Democratic senators, including John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who said he expects all Republicans to vote to confirm her — and that he and some other Democrats may support her, as well.

“I'm open to being one of them on the other side because we want to work together and ag is our top industry in Pennsylvania,” Fetterman told MA.

Fellow Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont said that Rollins was “very impressive” in their meeting. And he added that he, too, brought up “the harm that I felt tariffs could do to our ag community.”

Rollins said she’s been encouraged by support from Republican senators, but also the “connections and the relationships being built with those on the other side of the aisle.”

Relationship to Trump: A key feature of Rollins’ record, some Republican senators noted, is her close relationship with the president-elect, which they hope means she will be an effective voice for agricultural interests in Cabinet discussions.

“She’s gonna be in President Trump’s ear,” said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). “She’s one of those people that’s just relentless. And I think that she’ll be right there fighting for American farmers.”

Your host has the full story for Pros here.

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AROUND THE AGENCIES

LANDMARK CORN DECISION: An international trade panel has handed the Biden administration a big victory on behalf of U.S. farmers by ruling that Mexico’s restrictions on imports of genetically-modified corn violate the terms of North America’s free trade agreement.

The U.S. won on all seven counts before a panel convened under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade pact, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said.

The decision puts pressure on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to reverse a policy put in place by her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who argued the restrictions were needed to protect human health and Mexico’s native corn varieties.

Response: National Corn Growers Association President Kenneth Hartman Jr. called the result “an incredible development for the nation’s corn growers and rural communities” and said corn industry leaders deserve credit for pressing the Biden administration to bring the case. NCGA has advocated for years around Washington to get lawmakers and administration officials to focus on the case, which they argue will be vital for U.S. corn producers.

Research group The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy argued it “ignored substantial scientific evidence on health and environmental risks, sidestepped threats to Indigenous Rights, and inappropriately anticipated economic harm to U.S. corn exporters when no harm has occurred.”

But in a joint statement from the ministries of Economy and Agriculture, the Mexican government suggested it would abide by the ruling.

“The Government of Mexico disagrees with the Panel’s findings, as it believes the challenged measures align with principles safeguarding public health and the rights of Indigenous peoples, enshrined in national legislation and international treaties to which Mexico is a party,” the statement says.

Our Doug Palmer and Meredith Lee Hill have more for Pro subscribers here.

SUMMER EBT PUSH: Anti-hunger advocates are making a final push to urge states to join the federal summer meals program, SUN Bucks. Already, Alabama and Utah have opted in.

Lawmakers made the SUN Bucks program permanent beginning last summer, offering $120 per child, but states had to opt into the program. More than a dozen GOP-led states didn’t sign up when the first deadline passed last year, citing reservations about the types of food families could buy with the additional money. In the permanent program, states also have to pay half of the administrative costs.

“At this point … saying we do not have the administrative funding is really as valid as maybe it was last year because they’ve had the time to prepare,” said Kelsey Boone, senior child nutrition policy analyst with the Food Research & Action Center.

USDA is offering a technical grant to states implementing the program to help defray administrative costs. Iowa has said it would cost $2.2 million to run the program and hasn’t yet opted in.

“Iowa has $1.1 million sitting on the table if we want it,” said Luke Elzinga, board chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition, referencing the USDA grant.

Tennessee said last summer would be the last year it ran the program. But advocates are hopeful that Florida and Georgia may still opt in for summer 2025.

Context: The program, which was modeled on a pandemic-era benefits program and could reach as many as 30 million low-income children, makes it easier for low-income kids to access food when they’re not eating federally-funded meals at school.

Existing USDA summer meals programs require kids to travel to food sites for meals, which make it more difficult for kids to access the food.

States have until Jan. 1 to notify USDA of their intent to participate. Then, states have until Feb. 15 to submit their operation plan for the program.

Row Crops

— USDA has announced the final tranche of spending of a signature loan forgiveness program for distressed farm borrowers. The program, part of the Inflation Reduction Act, has provided $2.5 billion in relief for more than 47,800 borrowers.

— Sen.-elect Jim Justice (R-W.V.) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) will join the Senate Ag Committee next year, our Ursula Perano writes.

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.