| | | | |  | | By Meredith Lee Hill and Grace Yarrow | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Marcia Brown
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Democrats in rural America fear President Joe Biden’s debate performance is undercutting their painstaking efforts to build trust with their communities. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | | | | — As the Democratic Party reckons with President Joe Biden’s debate performance, rural Democrats are worried Biden’s campaign crisis is undermining their efforts. — Congress is back for a packed week on Capitol Hill, with a Senate Ag-FDA spending markup and several Agriculture Committee hearings ahead. — We caught up with the Democrat challenging North Carolina’s Republican incumbent commissioner of agriculture. IT’S MONDAY, JULY 8. Welcome to Morning Agriculture! We’re your hosts Meredith Lee Hill and Grace Yarrow. Send tips to meredithlee@politico.com and gyarrow@politico.com and follow us at @Morning_Ag.
| | | | A message from National Wildlife Federation Action Fund: Thousands of farmers and ranchers have already signed up to adopt climate-smart agriculture practices made possible by Congress’ largest investment in farm and ranch conservation since the Dust Bowl. Now, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make this climate-smart conservation funding permanent into the future. We are counting on Congress to follow through on its $20B promise, finish the job, and pass a bipartisan, pro-conservation Farm Bill this year. | | | Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
| | RURAL EYES ON BIDEN: Democrats in rural America fear the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s debate performance is undermining the party’s painstaking efforts to build trust with their communities, Meredith reports. Panic within the Democratic party has triggered fears among rural Democratic voters, lawmakers and organizers of an election bloodbath in rural America this fall that could wipe out the party’s small remaining foothold in those regions. Alarm among Democrats on the ground in rural areas has only grown since the debate, especially after Biden officials spent days chalking up the president’s struggles to one bad night and dismissing Democrats’ concerns, Meredith reports from Houston, Minnesota. Biden was able to clinch key battleground state wins in 2020 in part because he performed better in rural areas than Hillary Clinton did in 2016. But Democrats overall have hemorrhaged rural support over the past several decades — especially in the upper Midwest. We’ve already noted the potential fallout for the farm bill, with Democrats increasingly likely to try to pass a new reauthorization during the lame duck, rather than wait until 2025. CONCERNS ON THE HILL: As both chambers of Congress return to Washington this week, Democrats are facing heightened pressure to weigh on whether Biden should step aside. Vulnerable Dems’ response: House Ag member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) on Saturday became the first battleground Democrat to call for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race. “Given what I saw and heard from the President during last week’s debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of a forceful response from the President himself following that debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump,” Craig said in a statement. House Ag Democrat Don Davis, who represents a rural stretch of North Carolina, said he thought Biden’s debate delivery “was a disaster.” “President Biden needs to show that he is fit to lead the free world and demonstrate his fighting spirit,” Davis said. “If he’s going to stay in, he needs to step up.” Another vulnerable House Ag Democrat, Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez (D-Wash.), told local media outlet KATU last week she believes Trump will win the election in November after Biden’s debate performance. But the vast majority of House Ag Democrats in rural battleground districts didn’t respond to inquiries from MA about whether Biden should stay in the race, including: Sharice Davids (Kan.), Nikki Budzinski (Ill.), Jahana Hayes (Conn.), Andrea Salinas (Ore.), Eric Sorensen (Ill.), Yadira Caraveo (Colo.), Darren Soto (Fla.) and Sanford Bishop (Ga.). A spokesperson for battleground House Ag Democrat Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) said “no comment” when MA asked if Biden should stay in the race and what Vasquez is hearing from his constituents about the matter. Abigail Spanberger, a House Ag member running to be Virginia’s governor, also didn’t respond to an inquiry, as did House Ag member Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), who is running to replace Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).
| | | | Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more. | | | | | WELCH WEIGHS IN: Other Democratic lawmakers have warned that questions about the president’s health won’t just blow over. “All of us are watching how the Biden team reacts. But it was a serious setback. And I think that that's a universal view from the White House to urban to rural America,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), an Ag Committee member who chairs the rural development panel, told Meredith. “People saw what they saw, and there appeared to be physical factors that weighed into the performance,” Welch continued. “This is something that the campaign has to deal with, that President Biden has to deal with.” “My view, from just watching this extraordinary career from Joe Biden, is that at the end of the day, he’ll make his decision on the basis of what’s best for the country,” Welch said.
| | BUSY WEEK AHEAD: Amid election controversy and campaign buzz, appropriations leaders will convene this week to start to hammer out key spending plans. The coming weeks are a critical time for lawmakers to push funding bills ahead of August’s recess. The Senate Appropriations Ag-FDA subcommittee will mark up its fiscal 2025 spending bill on Thursday. House hearing: The House Ag committee is slated to convene Wednesday for a hearing on “Examining the Consequences of EPA’s Actions on American Agriculture.” SENATE AG SCHEDULE: The Senate Ag Committee will also hold a hearing Wednesday morning on cryptocurrency regulation, as part of Stabenow’s effort to pass her own bill on the topic before retiring at the end of this term. The path ahead for that legislation is still very unclear, with no Republicans currently supporting it and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) pushing a rival plan. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam, who Stabenow’s team has briefed on the legislation throughout the past several months, is slated to testify at the hearing.
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Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who chairs the Senate Ag rural development panel, will helm a hearing this Wednesday on disaster resilience and recovery for rural communities. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP | Rural panel meeting: Later Wednesday, Welch will helm a Senate Ag rural development and energy subcommittee hearing on disaster resilience and recovery for rural communities. Welch, who heads the subcommittee, has been pushing for the federal government to boost funding for USDA’s rural development programs that are flexible and can help rural America after natural disasters hit, especially after catastrophic flooding struck his state of Vermont last year. On the ground: The Vermont Democrat recently visited towns and communities still trying to rebuild in his state, one year after the flooding. “It was a good news, bad news tour,” Welch told MA. “The good news is that a lot of the efforts of FEMA immediately following the floods was helpful and effective and people were grateful.” “The bad news is that, the long term recovery — there's been immense frustration,” Welch said. FEMA officers frequently change and small towns don’t have the resources to navigate many regulations, Welch added, noting “real frustration with the paperwork, the delays, the inconsistency.” Farm bill push: Welch said there are measures in Stabenow’s farm bill plans to tweak some recovery efforts. But he’s still pushing to boost funding for flexible, rural development funds that can be deployed to communities so local leaders can implement them. He also wants to provide funding for an automatic increase in resources for USDA’s rural development teams so they can better address disasters and recovery.
| | | | A message from National Wildlife Federation Action Fund:   | | | | | AG FIGHT IN N.C.: Sarah Taber, a Fayetteville-based former podcast host and owner of a farm systems consulting business, is taking on a five-term incumbent in this year’s race for North Carolina commissioner of agriculture, Marcia writes. North Carolina is one of just a handful of states that elect their agriculture commissioner. In most states, the governor appoints someone to the post. Taber, a Democrat, is taking on incumbent Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler, a Republican and a farmer who touts his record with supporting North Carolina agriculture exports. Having worked in agriculture in various forms — as a scientist, farmworker and consultant — for nearly 30 years, Taber feels she can connect with rural voters in the purple state. Her central pitch to suburban and urban voters rests on bringing down grocery prices. She argues that building a more diversified farm sector that supports fruits and vegetables — not just the hog industry North Carolina is known for — is key to helping families and garnering votes. Read Taber’s full conversation with Marcia here.
| | | | POLITICO AND WELT EVENT TUESDAY 7/9: Join POLITICO and WELT for a roundtable discussion on July 9 with the top defense officials in NATO countries that share a border with Russia, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These are the crucial officials tasked with armoring these front-line states against Vladimir Putin’s aggressive expansionism. We will discuss how they are adapting to this new period of danger and explore the future of the NATO alliance and their relationship with the United States. Register here. | | | | | | | | — Biden hopes the same Mississippi River waterways that spurred westward expansion can cut greenhouse gas emissions. Environmentalists aren’t so sure, our Ry Rivard and MA alum Garrett Downs write. — Florida and California both suffer from a high number of heat-related fatalities, but their approaches to protecting workers are vastly different, our Blanca Begert and Bruce Ritchie report. — Biden laid out his regulatory blueprint Friday for the remainder of the year and beyond if he wins his reelection bid, including rules to tackle climate change, polluted waterways and toxic chemicals, per E&E News’ Kevin Bogardus. — More consumers are now filling their carts with luxury strawberries introduced by Driscoll’s, the world’s largest berry company. (The Wall Street Journal) THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line and send us your agriculture job announcements or events: gyarrow@politico.com, meredithlee@politico.com, marciabrown@politico.com, abehsudi@politico.com and ecadei@politico.com.
| | | | A message from National Wildlife Federation Action Fund: This Farm Bill represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fundamentally remake conservation across the United States. Billions of dollars from Congress’ $20B investment for on-farm conservation and climate-smart agriculture have been deployed and are making a difference on the ground. However, the remaining funding must be codified in the Farm Bill and kept in conservation and climate-smart agriculture.
Even with this additional funding, demand for conservation from producers continues to grow and outpace available funding. Now, we have the means to permanently increase Farm Bill conservation dollars and continue to empower farmers for years to come to implement conservation practices that improve water quality and soil health, mitigate the impacts of floods and drought, energize rural economies and communities, and empower American agriculture to lead on climate.
We are calling on Congress to follow through on its promise, finish the job, and pass a bipartisan, pro-conservation Farm Bill this year. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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