Ag News, Friday, June 12, 2015

TPA Vote Scheduled for Friday in the House

The U.S. House is expected to vote on Trade Promotion Authority today (Friday), a move that signals the votes for passage are there.

Earlier this week, House leadership and others indicated TPA would not be brought up this week if supports felt they couldn’t gather enough votes for passage. A procedural vote on Thursday narrowly passed the House. House Speaker John Boehner told The Hill “we’ve addressed the concerns raised by our members, and frankly by the Democrats.” The Hill reports the key lies in Republican support though. With less than 25 Democrats expected to back fast-track, Boehner might need close to 200 members of his conference to support the legislation.

House Subcommittee Reviews 2014 Farm Bill Conservation Programs Implementation

The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry found in a public hearing Thursday conservation programs as part of the 2014 Farm Bill are working successfully. Chairman Glenn Thompson said “NRCS and FSA have done great work on the grassroots level to make sure these programs are implemented.” NRCS Chief Jason Weller testified that tools implemented in the 2014 Farm Bill have well positioning USDA and its partners to help agriculture make a major difference in the lives of farming and ranching families and the quality of natural resources.

Farm Bureau Releases Detailed Analysis of WOTUS

The American Farm Bureau’s analysis of the Waters of the U.S. rule finds the final rule to be worse than EPA’s original proposal. American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman said the conclusions “are sobering.” The rule would give the EPA and the Corps of engineers the power to determine what falls under the regulation via remote desktop applications, without ever stepping foot on the land in question. Farm Bureau is now calling on lawmakers to intervene to stop the rule.

Source:  NAFB News