Presented by PepsiCo: Delivered every Monday by 10 a.m., Weekly Agriculture examines the latest news in agriculture and food politics and policy.
| | | | |  | | By Garrett Downs | | | With help from Meredith Lee Hill
| | — Congress on Saturday voted to avert a government shutdown through Nov. 17. But without further action, the move simply delays a shutdown. — Both chambers still have a lot of work to do to pass their annual full-year appropriations bills. We’re keeping track. — The sliding schedule on appropriations is eating away at the odds a farm bill will pass by the end of the year. The first programs in the 2018 farm bill lapsed over the weekend. IT’S MONDAY, Oct. 2. Welcome to Morning Ag. I’m your host, Garrett Downs. Send tips to gdowns@politico.com, and follow us at @Morning_Ag.
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters just after voting to advance appropriations bills on the House floor, at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 26. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo | SHUTDOWN SHOCKER: Congress on Saturday voted in shocking fashion to avert a government shutdown — passing a so-called “clean” continuing resolution that will keep the government funded through Nov. 17. The vote came just hours before the government was set to shut down, with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) pivoting to a more simple measure to extend funding that Democrats could support. ICYMI: Your host broke down the CR for Pro readers after it passed. Here’s what’s in it: — The bill includes funding and authority for USDA to spend WIC funds at the rate necessary to maintain heightened levels of participation. Like the Senate’s CR, the bill does not include $1.4 billion in additional WIC funds that the White House had requested. — The CR extends a base salary increase for federal wildland firefighters that was created in the bipartisan infrastructure law. — The bill provides $16 billion in supplemental disaster aid for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. $15.5 billion of that would be for declared major disasters. It does not provide USDA money for direct commercial farm aid, but it could be used to help farm communities devastated by hurricanes and flooding. — The CR continues funding for direct and guaranteed farm loans, to ensure the USDA can accommodate approved loan applications. — The CR extends the Livestock Mandatory Reporting program.
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| | |  Former House Ag Committee Chair Frank Lucas voted against his party’s Ag-FDA spending bill last Thursday night. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | BUT WHAT NOW?: Congress now has a 45-day buffer to finish its work on the appropriations process. Each chamber has 12 bills to pass to fully fund the government and come to a bicameral agreement before then to avoid another CR or a shutdown. We’re keeping tabs: The House has passed four spending bills so far, which all hew to the far-right with deep spending cuts and controversial policy riders. The Senate has not passed any but has advanced all 12 from committee on a bipartisan basis and is working to advance a “minibus” that includes the Agriculture-FDA bill. The House Ag-FDA bill failed when Republican leadership attempted to pass it on the floor last week. Farm state Republicans opposed it because of deep cuts to agriculture programs, and moderates opposed a policy rider that would ban mail delivery of the abortion pill mifepristone. The fate of that bill is now unclear. It’s apparent that House leadership will have to make some changes to get an agriculture bill passed. Former House Ag Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) voted against his party’s Ag-FDA spending bill last Thursday night. "I have worked for an entire career to put together the ag policy we have. The way that bill was structured was destructive. And it would not have … made law," he told Meredith. "Therefore it was my opinion sometimes you got to stop the tail from wagging the dog," Lucas said. Adding to the chaos, a Republican-led motion to vacate McCarthy from the speakership is looming as Congress returns to work this week. Should the gambit succeed, it would set off a series of votes on the speakership until someone is elected. That could take up a lot of time, which lawmakers simply don’t have.
| | | | A message from PepsiCo:   | | | | | FARM BILL LAPSES: The 2018 farm bill lapsed over the weekend with no extension in sight. Congressional leaders have said an extension will not be necessary until the end of the year, and there is precedent for farm bills going beyond expiration. Many farm bill programs are mandatory and will run uninterrupted until the end of the calendar year. Some programs have been interrupted, as our own Marcia Brown reported. In the House: Ag Committee Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) told your host last week that the Ag-FDA appropriations mess doesn’t do anything to the farm bill, except to gum up the process of getting floor time. Thompson had previously told reporters that a short-term CR would likely push the farm bill later into the year, and he has said multiple times that he is waiting for leadership to allot floor time before he brings a bill out of committee. In the Senate: Meredith reported last week that farm bill talks in the Senate have hit a rough patch — a surprise development as the principal negotiators Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) have a long-standing good relationship. The spat is centered around Democratic resistance to allowing any carveouts of nearly $20 billion in conservation funds created by the Inflation Reduction Act, while Senate Republicans are warning funding for farm programs is not adequate, a reality borne out of budget constraints. What it means: With Congress putting its full focus — distractions aside — behind the appropriations bills, it’s looking more and more likely that the farm bill will see an extension. However, as Meredith reports, the prospect of an extension leaves one unanswered question of how long the extension will be. A one-year punt would place farm bill talks into the heat of the 2024 election, while a two-year extension would send the farm bill clear into the next Congress.
| | | | GO INSIDE THE CAPITOL DOME: From the outset, POLITICO has been your eyes and ears on Capitol Hill, providing the most thorough Congress coverage — from political characters and emerging leaders to leadership squabbles and policy nuggets during committee markups and hearings. We're stepping up our game to ensure you’re fully informed on every key detail inside the Capitol Dome, all day, every day. Start your day with Playbook AM, refuel at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report and enrich your evening discussions with Huddle. Plus, stay updated with real-time buzz all day through our brand new Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here. | | | | | | | | — Small farmers are fighting with California’s carrot industry over groundwater rights, AP reports. — Farmers are already lobbying California Gov. Gavin Newsom on the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) replacement, our Camille Von Kaenel and Debra Kahn write. 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.
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