| | | | | |  | | By Garrett Downs and Meredith Lee Hill | Presented by National Wildlife Federation Action Fund | With help from Marissa Martinez and Marcia Brown
| | — MA sat down with Senate Ag member Peter Welch (D-Vt.) for a sneak peek into his Wednesday hearing on rural development and broadband access. He discussed some of his plans to ensure rural America doesn’t get left out of the growing, digital economy. — The Congressional Budget Office updated its baseline spending projections for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Agriculture Department’s mandatory farm programs. MA read the numbers so you don’t have to. — A first-of-its-kind bill in Minnesota would expand the state's health insurance program to include a public option, making more farmers and self-employed workers eligible for health insurance instead of buying a more expensive option on the federal exchange. HAPPY MONDAY, MAY 15. Welcome to Morning Ag. We’re your hosts, Garrett Downs and Meredith Lee Hill. We’d like to give a special welcome to our newest teammate, Marissa Martinez! Please say hello to her at mmartinez@politico.com and maybe send her a welcome aboard tip? As always, send tips to gdowns@politico.com and meredithlee@politico.com and follow us at @Morning_Ag.
| | | | A message from National Wildlife Federation Action Fund: Congress made a historic investment in producers last year. Now, farmers and ranchers are counting on those conservation resources. That’s why we’re fighting with 644 organizations to protect $20 billion for Farm Bill conservation programs. USDA’s voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs enable producers to help mitigate climate change, build wildlife habitat, and steward lands for future generations. Congress made a promise – it’s time to follow through for farmers and protect conservation funding in the Farm Bill. | | | | | | BROADBAND PUSH: Sen. Peter Welch might be new to the upper chamber, but he’s no stranger to the challenges facing rural America, and especially the fight for broadband internet access. Welch, who co-founded the bipartisan rural broadband caucus in the House, now heads the Senate Ag subcommittee on rural development and energy. In an interview with MA, the Vermont Democrat told us he’s teaming up with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), the top Republican on the panel, to “revitalize rural America” and ensure those communities aren’t left out of the digital economy. “In order to have a rural economy in addition to an agricultural sector, everything else depends on broadband,” Welch said, especially after the pandemic hit. Welch said he’s focused on both the need for funding and “flexibility” in implementation programs to build out better and higher speeds of broadband across rural areas, especially those hardest to reach. As far as funding goes, there are now billions in federal broadband dollars available through the bipartisan infrastructure law and other spending bills, which Welch said he wants to make sure rural communities get their fair share. On implementation: Welch said he’s focused on ensuring complex mapping for new broadband projects is carried out efficiently and fairly for rural communities. Some of the biggest criticism by Republicans, and some Democrats, about broadband implementation is that there are too many USDA programs that touch the topic, and they should be streamlined. “Anything that would make the deployment of broadband quicker and more effective, we want to do,” Welch said. “I'm totally open to looking at the various programs to see where there's overlap and where it can be streamlined.” “We should be constantly assessing how we're doing and how we can do it better,” he added. Hearing: That oversight focus will be a key theme of Welch’s 3 p.m. hearing Wednesday entitled: “Rural Broadband: Connecting our Communities to the Digital Economy.” Witnesses: Roger Nishi of Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom in Vermont; Christa Shute of NEK Broadband in Vermont; Jesse Shekleton of Jo-Carroll Energy Inc. in Illinois; James Frederick Johnson of Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative Inc. in Alabama and Justin Forde of Midco in North Dakota.
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| | MORE MONEY, MORE PROBLEMS: CBO updated its baseline spending projections for the next decade, largely boosting spending estimates across the board as lawmakers craft the upcoming farm bill. Why it matters: CBO’s so-called baseline is critical to drafting a new farm bill. It will effectively tell lawmakers how much money they have to allocate within programs, and determine whether they need to reallocate money from one program to another. CBO last updated the numbers in February. SNAP: As Garrett reported on Friday, CBO adjusted its projected SNAP outlays for fiscal 2024 to 2033 upward by about $17.7 billion from its February estimate of $1.205 trillion, bringing total outlays over the next decade to $1.223 trillion. CBO also adjusted SNAP costs for fiscal 2023 upward significantly. CBO is now predicting the program will cost about $145 billion in 2023, up from its previous estimate of about $127 billion. SNAP spending has emerged as a major player in the debate over the debt ceiling, with House Republicans passing a proposal that would restrict access to the program for certain individuals. Commodity Credit Corporation: The baseline spending estimate for the Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA’s internal bank, was also adjusted upward. May spending estimates for fiscal 2024 to 2033 including CCC conservation and price support programs is now about $107.120 billion, up from $93.163 billion in February. IRA Conservation funding: Inflation Reduction Act funds allocated to the USDA’s conservation programs largely remained static. CBO is predicting total outlays from 2023-2033 from the IRA allocations to be $15.308 billion, short of the more than $17 billion in estimated budget authority. Federal crop insurance: The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation fiscal 2024 to 2033 baseline also ticked up since February. It now sits at $101.134 billion, up from $97.131 billion in February. Price Loss Coverage program: Republicans and commodity groups are seeking to boost reference prices in PLC to make the program more reactive to low prices. PLC issues payments to farmers when the effective price of a covered commodity is less than the respective reference price for that commodity. However, the PLC program will be more expensive than expected in May under current policy. It is now scored at $33.143 billion, about $1 billion more than was predicted in February.
| | | | A message from National Wildlife Federation Action Fund:   | | | | | FARMERS WANT A PUBLIC OPTION: A first-of-its-kind bill in Minnesota would expand the state's health insurance program for people with low incomes to include a public option, making more farmers and self-employed workers eligible for health insurance instead of buying a more expensive option on the federal exchange. Its proponents include the Minnesota Farmers Union, labor unions and Unidos Minnesota. To farmers, the high cost of health insurance has become a major challenge, forcing some families to get off-farm jobs solely to obtain employer-sponsored health insurance. “When our members met, they identified making health care more affordable their top priority,” explained Minnesota Farmers Union vice president Anne Schwagerl. “Access to markets and climate is important too but of all the things we could spend our time and efforts on they identified health care as their top priority.” Details: Advocates say the bill would expand eligibility to farmers and others who struggle to afford health insurance by allowing families to access MinnesotaCare and pay a premium based in their income. The proposal would extend resources to Minnesotans who earn more than the current limit of $55,500 annually for a household of four, as well as to undocumented immigrants, though the current Senate version only allows minors to receive the benefits. Schwagerl said the law would also benefit small businesses and farms who can’t afford to offer employer health care. What’s next: There is one week left in Minnesota’s state legislative session. The omnibus health appropriations bill, which includes the public option component, has been in conference since the end of April, where lawmakers have been working to reconcile the state House and Senate versions. Title 42 opportunity: The congressional scramble to pass legislation following Title 42’s expiration has provided a new opportunity for other solutions for immigrants, including state-sponsored work visas, American Business Immigration Coalition executive director Rebecca Shi told Morning Agriculture. The program, supported by Republican Govs. Spencer Cox of Utah and Eric Holcomb of Indiana, would allow states to sponsor immigrants based on specific local industry needs. Shi said the bills like current House proposal HR 2 would just put a “Band-Aid” on the issue, though it is unlikely to move forward. But conversations over the E-Verify provision — which deterred several representatives from signing onto the bill at first — showed how important the agricultural industry and a path to legal status is, outside of party lines, Shi added. HR 2 “shows how dependent our country, and even Republican legislators are, on undocumented agricultural workers. As they’re legislating, they know where their food is coming from, who’s picking their food, who’s making their food, putting it on the table,” Shi said.
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S HEALTH CARE SUMMIT: The Covid-19 pandemic helped spur innovation in health care, from the wide adoption of telemedicine, health apps and online pharmacies to mRNA vaccines. But what will the next health care innovations look like? Join POLITICO on Wednesday June 7 for our Health Care Summit to explore how tech and innovation are transforming care and the challenges ahead for access and delivery in the United States. REGISTER NOW. | | | | | | | | — Farm conditions for pigs don’t seem to have anything to do with states’ salvos in the hard-fought battle over abortion. But a new Supreme Court ruling in an animal welfare case could become a tool in states’ burgeoning efforts to restrict or expand abortion access even beyond their own borders, our Josh Gerstein writes. — Cuba’s sugar industry is struggling amid U.S. sanctions, Al Jazeera reports. — The Gazette editorial board urged Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) to veto a bill that would set asset limits on SNAP participation. THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line: gdowns@politico.com, meredithlee@politico.com, marciabrown@politico.com, abehsudi@politico.com and ecadei@politico.com.
| | | | A message from National Wildlife Federation Action Fund: Last year, we fought to secure a historic investment of $20 billion in funding to transform on-farm conservation through effective and popular Farm Bill conservation programs. Now, we’re fighting with over 600 businesses, farms and other national organizations to ensure that funding is protected and goes to farmers and ranchers.
USDA’s voluntary and incentive-based conservation programs enable producers to adopt practices that build soil health, reduce emissions, while improving water quality, building resilience to extreme weather, creating habitat for wildlife, and stewarding agricultural lands for future generations.
This generational investment will support producers on the ground, energize rural communities, and enable American agriculture to continue to lead on climate.
The $20 billion for climate-smart agriculture must stay in conservation and climate -smart agriculture.
Congress made a promise – it’s time to follow through for farmers and protect conservation funding in the Farm Bill. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
