{"id":59150,"date":"2018-03-29T17:40:07","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T17:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vps70863.inmotionhosting.com\/~nationalgrange\/\/?p=59150"},"modified":"2018-03-29T17:40:43","modified_gmt":"2018-03-29T17:40:43","slug":"policy-updates-and-issue-news-march-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vps70863.inmotionhosting.com\/~nationalgrange\/policy-updates-and-issue-news-march-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy Updates and Issue News March 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Overview
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Congress is on a two-week Easter recess until April 9.\u00a0 Before leaving Washington, the lawmakers managed to pass a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package to fund the government through the September, the end of the 2017-2018 fiscal year.\u00a0 The bill was loaded with extraneous non-appropriations provisions as it became possibly the last legislative train to leave the station before midterm elections.\u00a0 Many of these add-on provisions were considered must-pass legislation by congressional leaders that would have a tough time making it through both houses the remainder of this year in the growing contentious political climate in Washington.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the past several months, the agriculture community was guardedly optimistic that action on the new farm bill would begin by April in the House followed soon thereafter in the Senate.\u00a0\u00a0 Agriculture committee leaders and committee staffs in both the House and Senate had been negotiating legislative details and writing a draft bill title-by title and section-by-section for months.\u00a0 Just days before the recess, rumors leaked out that the food assistance title of the House draft contained work requirements for able-bodied men to be eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).\u00a0 Rank and file Democrats on the House committee, feeling they should have been involved earlier in SNAP discussions, announced they would not vote for the farm bill in its present form.\u00a0 This action brings farm bill progress to a halt for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

Prospects for Hill action on other priority legislative initiatives such as immigration, agriculture labor workforce, infrastructure, healthcare and telecommunications are diming and could get pushed into 2019.<\/p>\n

Trade continues to be a contentious economic, political and diplomatic issue in Washington, around the country and among our international trading partners.\u00a0 As the Administration threatens to place tariffs on imports from certain countries, those countries quickly prepare restrictive retaliatory tariffs against American exports.\u00a0 U.S. food and agriculture exports are expected to suffer the most from a trade war.<\/p>\n

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The Omnibus Package
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In addition to appropriating funds to run the federal government through September 30, the omnibus provided a legislative vehicle to pass a plethora of unrelated items deemed must-pass by congressional leadership and by the constituency of those pieces of legislation.\u00a0 Here is a summary of several items that interest Grangers:<\/p>\n

Healthcare<\/strong><\/p>\n