| | | | |  | | By Garrett Downs | With help from Marcia Brown and Meredith Lee Hill
| | — Lawmakers are zeroing in on a deal that could avoid a funding shortfall in a key nutrition program while imposing a new controversial pilot program in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. — FIRST IN MA: The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition conducted a new report on the farm safety net, and issued policy recommendations along with it. — Progressive advocacy groups are pushing against appropriations riders that could derail the Biden administration’s competition rules. HAPPY TUESDAY, Feb. 20. I’m your host, Garrett Downs. Send tips to gdowns@politico.com and follow us at @Morning_Ag.
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| | |  A possible deal involves adding what's known as the SNAP-choice pilot program, backed by Rep. Andy Harris, to the Ag-FDA spending bill. | Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP | ICYMI — LAWMAKERS NEARING WIC DEAL: Lawmakers are nearing a deal that could solve a funding shortfall in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — one of the longstanding impasses in the appropriations process as Congress hurdles toward another shutdown deadline, Meredith scooped late last week. The details: According to three people familiar with the talks, the possible deal involves adding what's known as the SNAP-choice pilot program, backed by Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), to the Ag-FDA spending bill, as well as an undisclosed amount of extra funding for WIC, the nutrition program that helps feed millions of low-income mothers and babies. The framework for the deal has been kicked up to leadership-level negotiations, according to two of the people familiar with the matter, who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Between the lines: Democrats would score a major win by securing enough funding to keep WIC afloat after months of warnings from anti-hunger advocates that without more money the program will need to impose waiting lists for eligible recipients and slash benefits. The White House had asked for more than $1 billion in supplemental funds for WIC, which Republicans have rebuffed in prior stopgap funding measures. The GOP would also score a win, as many conservatives have long sought to impose a SNAP-choice pilot. SNAP-choice is controversial, however, especially among anti-hunger advocates, as it would limit the types of food SNAP recipients could purchase with their benefits. Harris’ voluntary five-state pilot program would require the SNAP benefits to be used to purchase only “nutrient dense” foods aligned with the dietary guidelines, ruling out items like soda, candy and most processed foods. Some Democrats have already pushed back on linking the SNAP-choice and WIC. What’s next: Congress is out of town this week, returning mid-next week for a mad dash before a number of federal agencies shut down on March 2. A deal on WIC would clear one critical logjam holding up the appropriations process, and help pave the way for Congress to pass a full suite of appropriations bills for fiscal 2024.
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Democrats led by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (center) are staunchly opposed to repurposing any climate funds provided by the IRA. | Scott Applewhite/AP | FIRST IN MA — SAFETY NET REPORT: The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is out with a new report on the farm safety net, and MA got a first look. It includes a list of policy recommendations for Congress to act on in the upcoming farm bill. The details: The report from NSAC, an alliance of over 130 grassroots organizations advocating for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, found that out of $88 billion spent in federal government farm and safety net subsidies from 2017 to 2022, farmers in 10 states received about 61 percent of them. Those states are Texas, North Dakota, Kansas, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri and California. The figure includes crop insurance premium subsidies, commodity programs and ad-hoc disaster assistance — but excludes the Market Facilitation Program and Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. Smaller and more diversified farms are often left underserved, the report found. “This report argues that the current farm safety net is ill-equipped to help farmers adapt to growing threats to the stability of the U.S. food system, and will only increase in cost without a significant recalibration,” the report reads. “For example, crop insurance indemnities exceeded premiums in 2022 and broke a previous record set in 2012, yet the program does little to encourage farmers to mitigate preventable losses through adoption of on-farm risk reducing practices.” Policy recommendations: NSAC made 14 policy recommendations alongside the report to improve access to the farm safety net, level the playing field for underserved producers and reduce farmer reliance on government payments. Here are five of their recommendations: — Improve the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insurance program by “expanding the Micro Farm option, removing the limit to revenue expansion, and offering additional compensation to agents who sell the product.” — Protect $20 billion worth of climate-smart agriculture conservation resources included in the Inflation Reduction Act and and do not use conservation funding to increase reference prices in the Price Loss Coverage Program.. — Implement a $900,000 adjusted gross income means-test and $50,000 payment cap on crop insurance premium subsidies. — Authorize “a limited insurance premium discount to farmers who adopt practices from a menu of regionally appropriate, risk- reducing conservation practices, including but not limited to cover crops and resource-conserving crop rotations.” — Reforming “disincentives against the adoption of conservation practices that are perpetuated by federal crop insurance rules, including cover crop termination guidelines.” Why it matters: Farm bill negotiators are at a stalemate in a fight over the farm safety net. Republicans are seeking to repurpose climate-smart agriculture funding from the IRA to increase spending for the farm safety net and pay for a number of other priorities. But Democrats led by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) are staunchly opposed to repurposing any climate funds provided by the IRA, and Stabenow has proposed a separate plan to make crop insurance more widely accessible.
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S GOVERNORS SUMMIT: Join POLITICO on Feb. 22 to dive into how Governors are wielding immense power. While Washington remains gridlocked, governors are at the center of landmark decisions in AI and tech, economic development, infrastructure, housing, reproductive health and energy. How are they setting the stage for the future of American politics, policies and priorities? How are they confronting major challenges? Explore these questions and more at the 2024 Governors Summit. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | | GROUPS WANT NO INTERFERENCE IN ANTI-MONOPOLY AGENDA: Progressive advocacy groups, anti-monopoly groups and farm groups urged congressional appropriators to block any “poison pill” additions to budget bills that would tank President Joe Biden’s whole-of-government anti-monopoly agenda in a letter sent Friday morning. “For decades, our agencies and enforcers have been asleep at the wheel, allowing the largest corporations to massively expand their market power at the expense of consumers, workers, and small businesses,” write the organizations including the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, P Street Project, Inc. and the American Economic Liberties Project. “We have seen the impact of a fragile supply chain across vertically integrated industries, stagnant wages, frozen economic mobility in labor markets, and significant barriers to entry and market access for small businesses.” Specifically, the groups are urging lawmakers to reject efforts — largely led by Republicans — in the initial House ag appropriations bill that would halt additional USDA rulemaking intended to strengthen the Packers and Stockyards Act, an ag competition law. The groups oppose “a hiring freeze” in the USDA division charged with enforcing ag antitrust laws and writing new rules, such as the recently implemented poultry transparency rule. The groups also argue that, in the report that accompanied the ag appropriations bill, lawmakers have written new interpretations of ag antitrust law, “potentially making future antitrust enforcement more difficult across the economy.” Context: The letter comes as lawmakers are scrambling to agree on language that will keep the government open while tackling certain political priorities during an election year.
| | — The White House appears set to back a tougher environmental plan for ethanol, which would make it more difficult to qualify for sustainable aviation fuel tax credits. (Reuters) — Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), John Duarte (R-Calif.), David Valadao (R-Calif.), and John Curtis (R-Utah) introduced the Satellites Preventing Agricultural Crises and Emergencies Act, a bill that would boost wildfire preparation and fund satellite-based research. — Czech farmers descended on Prague. (POLITICO Europe) THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line: gdowns@politico.com, meredithlee@politico.com, marciabrown@politico.com, mmartinez@politico.com, abehsudi@politico.com and ecadei@politico.com. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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