Policy Updates and Issue News January 2020
| Overview |
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January has been an extremely slow month for issues and policy actions in Washington. The legislative arena has been overtaken by the Democratic presidential candidates’ campaigns and the Trump impeachment process. The presidential candidates are beginning to hone in more now on rural, agriculture, food, environmental, health and broadband issues. The House is essentially reduced to committee oversight hearings for the foreseeable future. The Senate will have no other business than the impeachment process for several weeks. In the meantime the Iowa presidential caucus is the first Monday of February and the New Hampshire “First in the Nation” presidential primary is the second Tuesday of February. The National Grange will take its traditional every-four-years presidential primary fly-in to New Hampshire February 6-9 to participate in the attendees’ campaign of choice. In addition to campaigning, Grangers will spend time in the State Capital and be briefed on America’s electoral processes from Colonial times to present. They will also get a first-hand look at the massive international press corps set-up it takes to cover a modern day presidential primary. |
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| Presidential Policy and Ag Policy |
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As the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary get closer,Democratic presidential hopefuls are diving a bit deeper into rural issues and agriculture policy. Most of the leading candidates are promising to address consolidation of agribusiness and use the farm bill conservation programs to curb climate change. Here are some specifics from these candidates:
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| Agriculture and Food | |||||||||||||||
Waters of the United States (WOTUS)The EPA and Corps of Engineers released their final WOTUS rule that farmers, ranchers, landowners, municipalities and others have been waiting for. It replaces an earlier rule that private landowners said was an overreach of Congress’ original definition of navigable waters. National Grange president Betsy Huber issued a public statement applauding the action. “The new WOTUS rule replaces a rule that overreached the authority granted by Congress to regulate navigable versus not-so-navigable water on private lands. The revised navigable definition provides four clear categories of waters that are to be federally regulated under the Clean Water Act and details what waters are not subject to federal control. This is good news for farmers, ranchers and landowners.” Meat Marketing FairnessThe USDA is proposing an updated rule that lays out new criteria to determine when contract actions by meat processors and livestock dealers create an unfair business environment for farmers and ranchers by giving undue preference or advantage to one producer over another. The criteria for judging unfair treatment of producers would include, but not be limited to, whether the preference,
The revised rule goes a long way to satisfy National Grange policy, however conflict may still arise in court over various definitions of “customary” or traditional business practices. Dairy Merger Faces Antitrust ProbeDean Foods, the Dallas-based dairy giant, filed for bankruptcy in November.Now, Dairy Farmers of America is in discussions with Dean Foods to buy Dean’s assets. In 2018, Dean sold more dairy products ($4.8 billion) than any other processor. DFA estimates it markets a third of all milk in the country. The potential market impact of such a massive consolidation in the dairy industry has caught the eye of federal antitrust regulators who are investigating the deal. |
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| Health Care |
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Imported Drugs Concern ContinuesBack in December, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a notice of proposed rule making which would allow states to import drugs from Canada. The problem is that Canada does not review, test or approve drugs transshipped through Canada from a third country. That transshipped drug may be produced in any country under any kind of condition. National Grange policy continues to oppose transshipped imported drugs from Canada because such a drugs may be a fake that doesn’t treat the patient’s illness, it may not contain incorrect ingredient combinations or levels for effective treatment, or such a drug may actually contain in correct ingredients harmful to the patient’s health. The Drug Price ConundrumGetting a handle on the reasons behind escalating drug prices is not easy. Pricing formulas are not straight forward in many cases. According to a new analysis by the Berkley Research Group, nearly half of the total spending brand medicines in 2018 went to the supply chain between the manufacturer and patient. Another study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute shows that cancer medicines cost nearly twice as much in hospital outpatient facilities than in doctors’ offices. Drug pricing remains a priority issue for the National Grange. |
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| Telecommunications | |||||||||||||||
BIG funding for Rural BroadbandThe recent announcement by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund has been created and will allocate more than $20 billion for rural broadband expansion is an incredible win for rural communities according to a statement released by National Grange President Betsy Huber. These funds will go a long way toward reaching the “last mile” in rural areas with high speed connectivity. Access to real-time market data, web-based business initiatives, educational resources, telehealth services and more will leap-frog rural America into the main stream of national and international competiveness. RobocopsThe telecommunications industry is making progress toward curtailing those hated robocalls.It has created the Industry Traceback Group which is a collaborative effort of companies from across the wireline, wireless, VolP and cable industries that actively trace and identify the source of illegal robocalls. |
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| Trade | |||||||||||||||
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The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) finally law! The Senate passed implementing legislation on a huge bipartisan 89-10 vote in mid-January. The House passed the trade pact just before Christmas 385-41. The President signed USMCA into law in a White House ceremony January 29. In a statement National Grange president said, “This agreement helps solidify trade relationships with our neighbors who buy more made-in-America goods than any other market. Every segment of American agriculture benefits from this agreement.” |
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| Perspective | |||||||||||||||
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