House Agriculture Committee Passes Farm Bill along Party Lines
On Wednesday the 18th, the House Agriculture Committee passed its version of the Farm Bill with a 26-20 vote along party lines. While such votes are currently the norm on Capitol Hill, the Farm Bill has traditionally been a bipartisan piece of legislation that garners votes from a number of coalitions on both sides of the aisle. As discussed in last week's newsletter, the Republicans' proposal to tighten eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has broken this alliance. Democrats have voiced strong concern over the proposed changes, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling the House text both harmful and radical.
The bill will now head to the House floor for what is expected to be another highly partisan vote. On the Republican side, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows has signaled his support for the House text though he previously expressed concerns about doing so. While this bodes well for passage of the bill in the House, the Senate will likely object to a number of the more conservative aspects of the bill that got Congressman Meadows to support the House version.
The Senate is on track to release the text of its version of the Farm Bill in the comings weeks. It is anticipated that the Senate text will take a markedly different approach to the bill, particularly in the area of food assistance and conservation.
NEMWI will continue to provide additional analysis of the Farm Bill as it continues to move through the legislative process.
New Appointments at USDA
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced new senior leaders of several USDA agencies this week. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue appointed Ken Isley as Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator, Joel Baxley as Rural Housing Service Administrator, Martin Barbre as Risk Management Agency Administrator, and Tommie Williams as Minster-Counselor for Agriculture at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome.
Perdue's appointment of Williams has drawn some attention due to their preexisting relationship from their respective roles in the Georgia state government - Perdue's tenure as governor overlapped with William's stint as a state senator. This is not the first time Perdue has chosen friends and business associates for leadership positions in the USDA.
In his new role, Williams will serve as a liaison between the U.S. government and Rome-based organizations. He'll work on issues such as emergency food assistance, food safety standards, and rural development.
Turmoil at the EPA
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt continues to stay in the headlines for questionable ethics and leadership. Now, 170 lawmakers have signed a resolution calling for Pruitt's immediate resignation, saying they have "no confidence" in his ability to lead the agency.
This same week, details of internal emails were released revealing political staffers who have been working to internally replicate through agency action a bill that would restrict the kind of science that the EPA can use when writing regulations.
The bill, titled the Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment (HONEST) Act, would require all scientific data and findings be made publicly available before they are used to justify agency regulations. Though this seems like a valid approach, critics say it would exclude key studies on pesticides and toxic chemicals, therefore leaving out an entire realm of scientific data.
