Biden to blitz rural America

Oct 30, 2023

Presented by

Center For Science in the Public Interest

QUICK FIX

— President Joe Biden on Wednesday will kick off a “barnstorm” of rural America during a visit to Minnesota. The “Investing in Rural America Event Series” will see more than a dozen trips to rural areas by a swath of administration officials as the 2024 election heats up.

— The Senate will resume work on the three-piece “minibus” that includes the bill to fund the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration.

— The House is back to work and may consider a bill to fund the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency this week. The lower chamber’s Ag-FDA bill, however, remains stuck.

HAPPY MONDAY, Oct. 30. I’m your host, Garrett Downs. Send tips to gdowns@politico.com, and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

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Driving the day

President Joe Biden gestures with two thumbs up.

President Joe Biden and his administration will blitz rural areas in the coming weeks. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

BIDEN RURAL BLITZ: With just over a year until the 2024 election, the White House on Sunday announced more than a dozen trips to rural America by Biden, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and a slew of other administration officials.

Why it matters: The administration will use the trips to tout investments in rural areas through climate-smart agriculture, rural infrastructure and a pro-competition agenda, among other priorities. The trips come as House Republicans target the Inflation Reduction Act’s near $20 billion investment in climate-smart agriculture for clawbacks in the farm bill and as Biden seeks to make headway in rural areas for his 2024 reelection bid.

As your host has reported, the administration is hoping its sizable investments in new revenue streams for farmers through voluntary climate-smart agriculture and other means will pay dividends with skeptical rural voters and farmers, who have largely sided with Republicans in recent years.

Where they’re going:

Biden to Minnesota: Biden on Wednesday will travel to a family farm in Minnesota with Vilsack to “highlight the Biden-Harris Administration’s investments in rural America and efforts to support local farmers and communities,” according to a White House fact sheet. Notably, Minnesota is a key battleground and the home state of Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who announced a primary challenge to Biden last week.

Traveling Vilsack: Vilsack will also travel to Indiana to speak to the FFA (Future Farmers of America). He will then visit Wyoming and Colorado to tout investments and conservation.

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Xochitl Torres Small will travel to battlegrounds Wisconsin and Michigan to “highlight the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to boost rural economic development and create new opportunities for rural families.”

Trade ties: U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will visit Indiana to speak on the administration’s efforts to ensure trade benefits rural communities and farmers. The administration has come under pressure from farm state lawmakers on the Hill to more aggressively pursue trade deals.

Rural energy: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will visit Arizona to tout the administration’s efforts to boost clean energy in rural areas. That includes the $9.7 billion New ERA Program created by the IRA to help rural electric cooperatives build out clean energy programs.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will make three trips: to New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, to tout rural water investments and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law projects to remediate abandoned mines in rural towns.

APPROPRIATIONS SEASON

‘MINIBUS’ WHEELS KEEP TURNING: The Senate this week will resume work on the three-piece “minibus” appropriations package that includes Ag-FDA after voting on amendments all of last week.

The timeline: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in remarks last week that he’s hopeful the Senate can get to final passage of the “minibus” this week. The Senate worked through most of the non-controversial amendments to Ag-FDA last week, passing Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D-Mich.) funding boost for the USDA’s urban agriculture office and Sen. Tina Smith’s (D-Minn.) amendment to mandate a study of staffing shortages at the Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The upper chamber also rejected an amendment last week from Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) to prohibit earmarks.

What’s next: The upper chamber still has a handful of amendments to vote on before it can consider final passage of the package and the Ag-FDA bill.

After that, it appears the Senate may have another minibus on tap. But considering this “minibus” took the chamber over a month to get across the floor, it’s likely not going to have enough time to pass all twelve of its appropriations bills by Nov. 17, when government funding will run out. The Senate will likely have to pivot to another stopgap continuing resolution before long.

A message from Center For Science in the Public Interest:

THE HOUSE

Mike Johnson applauds.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). | Win McNamee/Getty Images

THE HOUSE IS BACK TO WORK: The House lurched back into action last week after it elected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaker, ending a three-week pause of legislative activity.

This week, the House will begin legislative activity on Wednesday, and it has three appropriations bills teed up for consideration, including the bill to fund the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency.

What’s in the bill: The Interior-EPA bill is loaded with cuts (nearly 40 percent to the EPA) and would overturn a number of Biden administration regulations.

Biden’s Waters of the United States rule, which has come under fire from farmers even after being revised, would be repealed. The bill would also prohibit EPA from issuing approvals of pesticide labeling inconsistent with a human health assessment or carcinogenicity classification pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Farm state Republicans have repeatedly alleged overreach in the EPA’s decision to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos.

The bill would also prohibit EPA from imposing mandatory reporting of greenhouse gases from manure management systems and prohibit EPA from implementing permitting requirements for livestock emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Ag-FDA still stuck: Meanwhile, the House’s version of the Ag-FDA bill hasn’t been unstuck by the election of a new speaker. Meredith and Alice Miranda Ollstein have the full story here.

CR likely incoming: Johnson has said he would like to create a working group to get the bill back on track after it failed on the floor last month. He has also laid out a speedy schedule to pass all twelve appropriations bills. But given the House GOP’s inability to reach a consensus on Ag-FDA, the Senate’s slow progress and a government shutdown less than three weeks away, a CR is likely coming.

Johnson said he would be open to a CR through either January or April next year, depending on caucus consensus.

Row Crops

— ICYMI: Stabenow last week called for a farm bill extension, Meredith reported. As POLITICO has reported, any farm bill extension will likely need to go in the next government funding stopgap measure, which lawmakers are already starting to craft ahead of the threat of another potential government shutdown Nov. 18.

— Australia walked away from trade talks with the European Union over agriculture disagreements, Bloomberg reports.

— Sheep are finding a home on solar farms, from The Texas Tribune.

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.

A message from Center For Science in the Public Interest:

Big Dairy trade groups are trying to skirt sodium limits for school meals. This means that popular school food items could contain higher levels of salt than what experts recommend. Kids already consume too much salt, and overconsumption increases their subsequent risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke later in life.

30 million kids rely on healthy breakfasts and lunches at school. It’s time for Congress to stop Big Dairy from sabotaging healthy school meals and prioritize our kids’ health. Learn more.