This week the country watched to see if the Senate would pass some version of Obamacare repeal. Those efforts were defeated, at least for the time being, on Thursday night as Republican Senators Murkowski, Collins, and McCain joined their 48 Democratic colleagues to vote down the latest proposal. It is unclear when, if at all, the Senate will take up the issue again.
While the healthcare fight consumed much of the oxygen in the room, there were important developments as Congress continues to work on the next Farm Bill. The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing on Tuesday that discussed risk management tools. The farmers, commodity organizations, and senators themselves previewed some of the important issues that will need to be decided, including subsidy payments and possible improvements to crop insurance.
On the House side, the Agriculture Committee held a hearing on renegotiation of NAFTA. While there was testimony about opportunities to increase access to Canadian and Mexican markets for some American producers, there was also some concern that renegotiation could harm the benefits that NAFTA already provides to American producers. If President Trump fulfills his promise to renegotiate the agreements, these issues will be vitally important to farmers in the Mississippi River Basin region.
