Policy Updates and Issue News June 2019

New Dairy Insurance Sign Up Begins

The new Dairy Margin Coverage program sign up began June 17 at the Farm Service Agency offices nationwide.   The DMC, created by the 2018 farm bill, is designed to provide protection for dairy farmers when the margin between milk and feed prices reaches a certain threshold.  The DMC offers a wider coverage spread than the former Margin Protection Program and is intended to benefit small-scale dairy producers.

FDA Drops Proposed “Added Sugar” Label on Maple Syrup and Honey

The Food and Drug Administration has scrapped its bid to require honey and maple syrup to be labeled as sources of added sugars in food products.  The added sugar proposed rule was strongly opposed by several state Granges and the National Grange who argued that the added sugar line would have misled consumers.  These products still must include the percent Daily Value of total sugar to ensure consumers have information how these products contribute to their total diet.

USDA Lengthens Haying and Grazing Time on Prevented Planting Acres

The USDA’s Risk Management Agency will allow haying and grazing on prevented planted acres to begin on September 1, two months sooner than the normal date of November 1.  This one-year change is a result of the excessive rain and unprecedented flooding that kept producers from planting traditional crops this spring.  Farmers and ranchers, particularly in northern tier states, are very pleased with this new development.  The date change had support from farm groups and bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.

Feral Swine Causing Nationwide Problems

Feral swine or “wild hogs” have grown into a huge problem for landowners, farmers and ranchers, orchardists and many more.  Wild hogs adapt to just about any habitat, have few natural enemies and reproduce at high rates. They uproot almost anything, destroy ecosystems and spread organisms harmful to human health like E. coli, salmonella and leptospirosis.  The 2018 Farm Bill included authorization and funding for a new pilot program for control and eradication jointly administered by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service.  Pilot projects will target states throughout the South and Southeast which have the highest feral swine population densities and associated damages in the country.

Health Care Transparency

President Trump signed an Executive Order June 24 the White House states will improve price and quality transparency in health care with these key points:

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will require hospitals to publicly disclose amounts that reflect what patients actually pay for services in an easy to read format.
• HHS will require insurance companies to provide patients information on cost of care and out-of-pocket costs before they receive services.
• The Administration will improve quality measurements across all federal health care programs and make them public.
• Researchers and developers will get more access to federal health care data.
• Expand benefit options of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and other tax-preferred health accounts.

Pneumonia Vaccination Important

The National Grange joined ten other health, consumer and patient groups to urge the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the CDC to recommend the continuation of coverage for pneumococcal vaccinations by insurance plans and Medicare.  Nearly one million cases of pneumonia are reported each year which result in 400,000 hospitalizations and 20,000-30,000 deaths.  A large percentage of these deaths are seniors.

More Concern About Imported Drugs

The National Grange teamed with the New York State Grange and seventeen other patient advocacy organizations to relay ongoing concerns about the risks of imported drugs to the sponsors of drug importation legislation in the New York State Legislature.  The cosigned letter to sponsors of the legislation stressed the many risks that outweigh any benefits.

Don’t Curtail Critical Innovations

Texas Senator Cornyn and Connecticut Senator Blumenthal recently introduced the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act, S. 1416, to curb the anti-competitive use of patents to protect prescription drugs and prevent generic and biosimilar competition.  While well intended, the bill ls overly expansive in that its broad provisions could limit the variety of therapeutic options by creating the assumption that any new drug patent on an existing product could be deemed “anti-competitive.” This could curtail critical innovations that patients rely on and leave them with limited therapeutic options.  The National Grange joined other patient advocacy groups to urge the Senators to rethink their approach and encourage development of new medications and medication technology that provides the treatment of serious, complex, difficult-to-treat and/or life-threatening illnesses.

Let’s Make a Deal

Democratic congressional leaders say they have agreed with President Trump to seek a deal on a $2 trillion infrastructure bill.  The President and members of Congress from both parties have long agreed on the need to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, but how to pay for it and what kinds of projects to be included have stymied progress.  However, few in Washington believe a landmark piece of legislation will move through Congress this year with the 2020 presidential election approaching.

Spending Snapshot

With a new infrastructure spending bill on the mind of many on Capitol Hill, what have been the spending patterns on America’s highways and waterways?  According to the Congregational Budget Office, public spending (federal, state, local) on transportation and water infrastructure accounted for $441 billion in 2017. Highways were the largest infrastructure expenditure at $177 billion or 40% of the total public spending on transportation and water.  The highway system is funded through the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and the Highway Trust Fund.  HTF has traditionally funded all highway projects and 80% of public transportation programs with fuel, truck and tire taxes.  Ports and harbors are maintained by the Inland Waterways Trust Fund and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund through a 29 cent-per-gallon tax on barge fuel.   These user tax revenues fund about half of the amount needed for the programs; the remainder must be appropriated by Congress.

The House Ways and Means Committee passed a broad tax bill in late June that includes an extension of the biodiesel tax credit and incentives for biofuel infrastructure and wind power.  The tax bill also included a roll-back of estate tax exemptions beginning in 2023.   The National Grange and a large group of agriculture, rural, landowner, small business and family- owned enterprises opposed the roll-back.      This proposed change pulls the rug out from family-owned businesses and farms that have recently adjusted their succession plans to reflect the new tax code and causes more uncertainty for businesses hoping to pass to the next generation.  The bill in its current form more than doubles the number of taxpayers subject to the death tax starting in 2023.  Our groups will work to keep the roll-back provision out of the Senate version of the tax bill.

National Grange Petitions for New Connectivity

The National Grange along with 24 other rural education, municipal, telemedicine and agriculture groups petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to open a new rulemaking procedure to clear outstanding regulatory hurdles related to TV White Space technology.  TWS technology offers a solution to the digital divide that persists because of the prohibitive cost of deploying traditional technologies to small customer bases in hard-to-reach areas

A Boost for USDA Rural Broadband Funding

The House has approved an increase in FY20 funding for USDA’s ReConnect rural broadband loan and grant program to $605 million.  The Senate has yet to start work on its FY20 appropriations bills but is expected to be favorable to this increase.

Upward Momentum for Broadband

U.S. broadband capital investment increased by $3 billion to $75 billion in 2018 according to USTelecom.  Broadband capital investment had declined on a negative regulatory impact with the classification of broadband providers as utilities in 2015.  That classification was reversed in 2017 and broadband investment began to rise again

On June 29, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.  They agreed to restart talks to end the U.S. – China trade war that has cost American agriculture billions in lost exports.   The tariff and trade deadlock with China continues to weigh heavily on farmers and ranchers.  The loss of farm product markets in China has been exacerbated by severe weather and prevented plantings across wide areas of farm country.   Uncertainty is beginning to creep into rural America as the economic impact spreads through entire communities.  On a brighter note, an agriculture trade pact with Japan appears promising after Japanese elections in July.   The U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement has moved to higher priority in talks between U.S. Trade Representative Lightheizer and House of Representatives leadership.  House Speaker Pelosi announced in late June her desire for a vote to approve USMCA, but is demanding that pharmaceutical patents, environmental standards and labor enforcement issues be addressed before passage.  Mexico meantime passed the USMCA, making it the first country to ratify the North American trade pact.  Canada has introduced an implementation bill in the country’s Parliament but Canada wants to approve the deal closer to the final vote by the U.S. Congress.

The National Grange and members of the Agricultural Transportation Working Group recently expressed strong support for the Surface Transportation Board undertaking efforts to modernize the Board’s oversight of freight rail rates and for the creation the STB’s Rate Reform Task Force.  The freight rail marketplace has changed significantly over the past 30 years while the Board’s process for adjudicating excessive rail rates has not kept pace.