Budget fight complicates drafting of farm bill Lawmakers have spent a year in listening sessions and congressional hearings for the 2023 farm bill but are still weeks away from drafting the legislation, said leaders of the Senate and House Agriculture committees. They are waiting for new budget estimates from the… Continue reading
Debt limit bill is not the last look at SNAP rules No matter the fate of debt limit legislation in the House, and its proposal to more widely apply a 90-day limit on SNAP benefits, Congress is not done with food stamps this year. Attempts to cut SNAP costs and… Continue reading
GOP senators eye climate bill funding as way to fatten farm bill accounts Farm-state senators will try to move $37 billion into the farm bill that originally was earmarked for a handful of USDA activities, including climate mitigation, in the climate, health and tax law last summer, said a Senate… Continue reading
White House creates Office of Environmental Justice On Earth Day, President Biden signed an executive order making environmental justice — the fair treatment of all people in the development and enforcement of environmental policies — part of the everyday work of federal agencies. G7 farm ministers: Expand Ukraine grain exports… Continue reading
Farm-state lawmakers prod EPA chief on biofuels and WOTUS The Biden administration is turning a cold shoulder to biofuels and rural America by encouraging the use of electric vehicles, said farm-state Republicans during a complaint-filled House hearing with EPA administrator Michael Regan on Wednesday. Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon pointed to… Continue reading
Biden prevails in override vote on water and wetlands rule A Republican-led attempt to overrule President Biden on clean water regulation failed in the House on Tuesday on a 227-196 roll call that fell well short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage. As a result, the administration’s waters of… Continue reading
McCarthy ties an increase in U.S. debt limit to work requirements for federal aid In a skeleton list of demands for White House concessions over the federal debt limit, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Monday that Republicans “would restore work requirements that ensure able-bodied adults without dependents earn a… Continue reading
House will try to override Biden on protecting wetlands Presidents almost always prevail when they veto legislation; there have been only 20 overrides in the 45 years since Gerald Ford left office. So Republican leaders in Congress face an uphill struggle against the Biden administration’s “waters of the United States”… Continue reading
Texas and California lead in recent EQIP spending By one yardstick — dollars spent under the 2018 farm bill — the cost-sharing Environmental Quality Incentives Program is the largest working lands conservation program at the USDA, said two University of Illinois economists on Thursday. They created an interactive map of… Continue reading
Grocery prices fall for first time since September 2020 Egg prices fell nearly 11 percent during March, contributing to the first decline — 0.3 percent for the month — in grocery price inflation since September 2020, said the Labor Department on Wednesday. The overall food inflation rate was down for… Continue reading
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