Policy Updates and Issue News October 2019

Mark your calendar for February 7-9, 2020 to come to New Hampshire and participate in the “First in the Nation” presidential primary.  As has become a National Grange tradition, we will take the Grange Fly-In on the road to work on presidential campaigns of your choice the weekend prior to the first national primary balloting on Tuesday in New Hampshire.    We will visit the historic N.H. state capital building in Concord, work on campaigns in Manchester, visit the headquarters for national and international media covering the candidates and campaigns, and look for opportunities to rub shoulders with the next President of the United States.  In 2016, a major portion of participants were high school and college students, so grab your student and hold the dates of February 7-9.  Watch for hotel reservations and additional information.

Long-Awaited Hemp Rules

Everyone in the hemp chain from grower to processor to consumer has been anxiously waiting for the USDA regulations governing industrial hemp that were announced October 29.  These regulations will govern the approval of plans submitted by states and Indian tribes for the domestic production of hemp by licensed growers.   The rule lays out procedures for tracking land where hemp is grown, testing concentration levels of THC (the psychoactive ingredient), disposal of non-compliant plants, and sharing information with law enforcement.  Interested growers should contact their state department of agriculture for a license.  In the meantime, growers of the 2019 hemp crop are struggling to find sufficient processing capacity.

Good Ozone News

The hole in the Earth’s ozone layer has shrunk to the smallest size on record since it was discovered in 1982, according to scientists at NASA.  The hole that naturally grows and shrinks every year due to temperatures in the Artic is determined to be a normal yearly phenomenon related to the ban on ozone-harming chemicals and not related to climate change.

Farm Finances Deteriorate

The Federal Reserve Bank says farm conditions continue to deteriorate across the country because of bad weather, weak commodity prices and trade disruptions.   The upper Midwest seems to have suffered most where in addition to low prices, crop yields could decrease 10-20 percent. 

Profile of New and Beginning Farmers

USDA’s latest overview report of beginning farms and farmers finds:

• Beginning farmers are more likely to rely on off-farm income
• They are generally smaller and younger than established farms
• Beginning farmers have higher debt-to-asset ratios, are more likely to receive government payments, and to receive financing from FSA
• They tend to specialize in beef cattle and row crops.

Grange Supports Research

The National Grange continues to urge Congress to pass the America Grows Act, S.2458 and H.R 4174 introduced by Senator Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Bustos (D-IL).  These bills authorize a 5 percent annual increase in USDA research funding for the next 5 years.

Health Care Moves to Center Stage

At both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and most of the space between, drug prices, surprise medical bills, drug rebates, imported drugs,  copays, premiums, Part D, Part B, Medicare for some and Medicare for all is Washington’s elephant-in-the-room political footfall this Fall.  The President has a plan, the Senate Finance Committee has a plan and House Speaker Pelosi has a plan.  There are good and bad sections of all these plans, but they’re far apart philosophically.  Compromise is now a foreign language in Washington so a near-term end game is difficult to see.  The National Grange will continue to fight for the good of patients as these plans unfold.

Patient First?

The National Grange joined the Academy of Physicians in Clinical Research in urging Congress to restore the patient as the central focus of their health care efforts.  The Office of Inspector General at HHS found that in 2017, Part D beneficiaries experienced 84 million rejections when they tried to fill a prescription, but 73% of these denials were wholly or partially overturned when appealed.  Unfortunately for patients with progressive, degenerative conditions the disease advances unchecked during the weeks or months the insurer drags out the appeal only to acknowledge the prescription should have been filled in the first place.

What About the Pay-For?

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group, former members of Congress, former Cabinet officials, economists and other professionals committed to educating the public on issues with significant fiscal policy impact.  The Committee found Medicare for All could be financed by largely unrealistic options such as:

• A 32%payroll tax
• A 25% income surtax
• A 42% value-added tax
• More than doubling individual and corporate tax rates
• An 80% reduction in non-health federal spending

“Cadillac Tax” Repeal

The National Grange is urging Senators to permanently repeal the 40% “Cadillac Tax” on employer sponsored health coverage.  The bill, S.684, Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2019 has 63 cosponsors in the Senate.  The House passed a similar measure 419-6.

Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced their bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act to overhaul agriculture labor programs on October 30.  The Ag Workforce Coalition worked with the sponsors on the legislation.  The Act would allow ag workers to earn legal status, limit ag worker wage fluctuations, increase access to green cards, authorize year-round workers and establish a mandatory E-Verify system for ag workers.

Backing for the bill includes the United Farm Workers and most ag groups. The National Grange will work hard to get an ag worker bill through Congress and the White House.

STELAR Reauthorization

Approximately 870,000 Americans are not served by major broadcast networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.   The Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization (STELAR) Act protects consumers by encouraging broadcasters to negotiate in good faith with satellite providers for national, regional and local programming.  The National Grange is urging Congress to renew this important legislation to allow isolated rural areas to continue receiving pertinent and affordable programming.

Support for Lifeline Voice Service

National Grange is asking Senators to weigh in with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to urge the FCC to rethink their plans to eliminate full support for voice service until the FCC concludes its 2021 Lifeline Study. The FCC plans to drop support for voice services on December 31.  A whopping 42 percent of Lifeline customers subscribe to plans that qualify based on their voice service offering.

Support for USDA ReConnect Program

National Grange joined multiple rural service providers to urge the leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee to include $605 million in their Agriculture Appropriations Bill for the UDSA Broadband ReConnect Program.  The House bill does include $605 million for ReConnect.

China Trade War Continues with Hope

By all accounts U.S. and Chinese negotiators plan to finish “phase one” of their trade deal by mid-November.  The Administration maintains the deal includes Chinese pledges to purchase $40-$50 billion in U.S. agriculture commodities annually.  The agriculture community is guardedly optimistic “phase one” can come to fruition but is anxiously awaiting final details.  Analysts predict additional phases of the deal that lift tariffs and solve issues of technology and intellectual property are much more difficult to negotiate and will take much longer.

USMCA Close Yet so Far

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is set to replace the North American Free trade Agreement (NAFTA).  USMCA has wide bipartisan backing along with industry and labor support, but a few members of Congress keep moving the goal posts.  Mexico has already ratified the agreement and Canada has committed to complete their ratification process as soon as the U.S. House of Representatives brings it up for a vote.  A vote by Thanksgiving is still possible.