Policy Updates and Issue News – April 2015

Congress Heading Back to Washington

Congress is wrapping up its two week Easter Recess and will be in session most of the time between now and July 31. The next four months will determine the fate of most major legislation for the year. Big ticket items like budget, appropriations, defense, national security, trade, energy, environment, taxes, government overregulation and oversight hearings will dominate the agenda.

Des Moines Sues Over Ag Runoff as WOTUS Final Rule Moves to White House

As threatened, the Des Moines, Iowa Water Works Board has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court against the boards of supervisors of three Iowa counties. The lawsuit charges the counties’ drainage districts act as point source conduits to channel fertilizer and manure into waterways that supply drinking water to municipalities. The plaintiffs would require agriculture to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits as point source polluters under the Clean Water Act. Currently agricultural runoff is considered a nonpoint source and does not require a permit. Agriculture groups in Iowa contend farmers and landowners are improving their operations to cut down on nutrient runoff and that money spent on lawsuits could be better spent on research and voluntary conservation initiatives. Meanwhile, the Administration has advanced the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) final rule from EPA to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. Although EPA Administrator McCarthy has promised to “refine the definition” of several terms in the final rule, agriculture in general remains highly skeptical.

USDA, HHS Urged to Use Sound Science for Dietary Guidelines

The federal government issues recommendations for healthy eating and updates these guidelines every five years. This year, when an advisory committee’s report suggested that only foods from “sustainable” agriculture production systems be recommended, a firestorm broke out. Accusations of “hand-picked data to support pre-determined conclusions” were leveled at the advisory committee. A committee of Congress suggested the report “exceeds the scope of its charge by straying from purely nutritional evidence and venturing into areas like sustainability and tax policy” and it should “base the final recommendations on the most current, irrefutable nutritional science. “ Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and Health and Human Services Secretary Burwell are charged with finalizing the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Agriculture’s Unique Workforce Challenges

Legislation to make the E-Verify immigration system mandatory could be devastating to agriculture unless it is accompanied by a bill to ensure agriculture’s access to a legal, reliable and stable workforce. This is the message the Agricultural Workforce Coalition (National Grange is a member) is sending to Congress. However, if Congress were to pass reform legislation that addresses agriculture’s workforce challenges, producers would welcome an E-Verify system that is simple, efficient, effective and certain.   A mandatory E-Verify bill has cleared the House Judiciary Committee without an agriculture companion bill as one of several stand-alone immigration bills being considered by the Committee. Sixty-one House members have sent a letter to Speaker Boehner challenging the committee’s decision to move a mandatory E-Verify bill ahead of agricultural guestworker legislation.

Efforts to Eliminate the Death Tax Get Traction in Congress

Agriculture continues to call for repeal of the federal estate tax that for generations has broken up family farms and businesses just to pay that high tax. The House Ways and Means Committee passed a repeal bill before leaving on recess. In a message-sending vote, the Senate also endorsed killing the death tax in a non-binding amendment to the Senate budget resolution. Several congressional studies indicate that ending the estate tax would actually increase federal revenue by encouraging more investment, creating 1.5 million additional small business jobs and shaving almost a percentage point off the unemployment rate.

USDA Proposes “Actively Engaged in Farming” Rule

The 2014 Farm Bill requires USDA to define farm management for legal entities of unrelated persons that receive farm subsidies if they do not work on the farm and may not provide any significant personal management function.  USDA has published a proposed “actively engaged in farming” rule to define eligibility to receive farm commodity subsidies. Farm managers not engaged in working the farm and who are part of farm partnerships of unrelated persons would be required to annually contribute 500 hours of management or at least 25 percent of total management required for the operation of the farm.

White House Creates Broadband Opportunity Council

President Obama has created a group 25 government departments and agencies whose sole purpose is to encourage infrastructure improvements necessary for broadband expansion.  The Council will engage industry stakeholders, identify barriers to broadband expansion and recommend ways to overcome those barriers. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and Commerce Secretary Pritzker co-chair the council.

Extension for Secure Rural Schools Program

Before recessing for Easter, the House approved (392-37) a two year extension for the program that provides assistance to schools, law enforcement and infrastructure in rural forested communities that lack a tax base to adequately fund such activities. The measure now goes to the Senate. President Obama has committed to sign the bill.

House Passes Boehner-Pelosi Medicare “Doc Fix” Deal

On an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 392-37, the House repealed automatic payment cuts to doctors under Medicare that threatened to reduce medical care for the elderly. The deal increases Medicare physician payments 0.5 percent annually and incentivizes doctors to provide quality over quantity care. President Obama has given the measure a strong endorsement. However, some Democratic senators have raised concerns about the bill’s language that bans federal funding for abortion (which is already current law known as the Hyde Amendment).

Rural Hospitals Struggle to Survive Financially

Since 2010, 48 rural hospitals have closed and another 283 are in financial trouble. For the high percentage of elderly and uninsured patients who live in rural areas, closures mean longer trips for treatment and uncertainty during times of crisis. Practitioners cite declining federal reimbursements for hospitals under the Affordable Care Act as the main reason for closures. Other factors include declining populations, disproportionate numbers of elderly and uninsured patients, the need to pay doctors better to draw them to rural areas and the cost of expensive but under-used specialty equipment.

Who is the “Food Babe”?

Her name is Vani Hari. She is not a politician, policymaker, or a trained scientist.   She’s a 34-year-old food activist who left her job as a management consultant four years ago to start her own nutrition blog. Time Magazine named her one of its “30 Most Influential People on the Planet.” She is idolized by her legions of followers and vilified by a vocal group of research scientists. The “Food Babe” is riding the wave of the whole-food, organic, all-natural, local food movement that rejects processed foods, additives and genetically modified ingredients. No doubt this trend toward more expensive “healthy food products” is growing and the biggest slice of this premium-paying population are the millennials.