Policy Updates and Issue News July 2024

Federal Milk Marketing Overhaul Proposed by USDA

USDA is proposing to drop the way fluid milk is priced under the federal milk marketing orders established by the 2018 farm bill. The proposal would restore a rule that makes the Class1 milk (fluid milk) price the higher of the price of Class 3 (milk sold for cheese) and class 4 (milk sold for butter and powder) for the month, plus a differential that would vary by location. Extended shelf-life milk would also get a new pricing formula. The proposals are the result of an extended USDA hearing process that took place last year following an appeal by the National Milk Producers Federation appeal to restore the old formula. The proposed changes must be approved by a dairy producer referendum.

USDA Funds Meat Processing Expansion

USDA is making $110 million available to expand local meat processing capacity through grants for projects in 30 states.  The Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program will distribute $83 million, and the Local Meat Capacity Grant Program will distribute $26.9 million. Funds will be used for building or expanding processing facilities, installing new equipment, meeting packaging and labeling requirements, and meeting staffing goals.  Increasing local meat and poultry processing capacity is a top priority for the National Grange.

Iowa approves controversial carbon pipeline

The Iowa Utilities board has approved Summit Solutions’ main liquid carbon dioxide pipeline through the state. The board ruled that the proposed service “is in the public convenience and necessity” and vested the company with the right of eminent domain across all requested parcels. However, Summit cannot start construction until it gets approval for a sequestration site in North Dakota and approval of pipeline routes in that state and South Dakota. Summit will be required to maintain an insurance policy to ensure landowners and tenants are compensated for damages that may result.

Multi-cancer screening test passed by key committee

The Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act (H.R. 2407) has been approved with strong bipartisan support by the House Ways and Means Committee. The Act authorizes Medicare to cover a simple blood draw screening test that detects a multitude of cancers with a single procedure. The National Grange shared the results of its rural cancer disparities study with committee members which found that compared to urban areas, rural communities have overall higher rates of cancer incidence, late-stage diagnoses, and mortality. National Grange also sent 108 letters of support to committee members, their staff and committee staff. Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-8-MO) gave the National Grange a shout-out for their support in his press release following the bill’s passage.

Support for Share Support with Seniors Act

The National Grange joined key patient groups on letters of support to the Hill for the bipartisan, bicameral Share the Savings with Seniors Act. The Act would require savings from rebates on medicines for chronic conditions to be passed along to Medicare beneficiaries at the pharmacy counter. Medicare beneficiaries are often charged coinsurance based on the list price of a medicine rather than a percentage of the discounted net price the insurance plan pays. The Act remedies this disconnect by requiring the cost-sharing for chronic care medicines be based on the net price of the drug. Rebates for patients at the pharmacy counter has been a long-term priority for the National Grange.

Nearly half of U.S. counties lack a single cardiologist

Most counties without a cariologist are rural, with lower income levels, less access to healthy food and fewer health care providers overall. Millions of Americans likely to develop and die from heart disease live in cardiology deserts according to new research by the American College of Cardiology. People living in these counties have a much higher prevalence of the entire spectrum of cardiovascular risk factors including obesity, diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Although heart disease is the nation’s No.1 killer, people living in rural areas are dying earlier and more often from heart disease that could have been prevented, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What’s all the hype about the Chevron Doctrine?

In June, the Supreme Court overturned the so-called Chevron deference that required courts to defer to federal agencies’ interpretation of ambiguous laws. On a vote of 6-3, the court said the 1984 Chevron decision “defies the command of the Administrative Procedure Act that the reviewing court – not the agency whose action it reviews – is to decide all relevant questions of law and interpret statutory provisions.”  The decision is considered a huge win for the dozens of industry groups that supported toe the challenge by fishing companies to a National Marine Fisheries Service rule requiring fishermen to pay for the cost of observers on board their vessels. The deference rule permitted federal agencies, rather than the courts, to determine the meaning of ambiguous federal statutes. Farmers, ranchers, forest owners, and landowners have long opposed the Chevron deference and they most recently cited the Waters of the United States rule as a prime example of federal regulatory overreach. The Supreme Court decision will likely force Congress to give agencies more specific direction in the laws it passes.

“Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.”  ~  Christopher Reeve“All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.”  ~  Majic Johnson

“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I have a dream.”  ~  Martin Luther King, Jr

“When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.”  ~  Theodore Roosevelt