CLIMATE-SMART FIGHT: Key progressives on Capitol Hill are alleging that Biden’s USDA is undermining the Inflation Reduction Act and its goals to reduce U.S. emissions by expanding what qualifies as a “climate-smart” agriculture project. Politically, Biden has a tightrope to walk with the direction of the IRA’s climate-focused agriculture program ahead of November. Expanding it, as his USDA is doing, could help the climate funding reach more farmers as Democrats struggle to win back rural voters. But it also risks backlash from progressives, who are incensed that many of the dozen or so newly allowed practices are less targeted to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and are also subsidizing the country’s largest “factory” farms that are a big source of emissions. “I’m not happy about it,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a House Agriculture Committee member, told MA. “This is not the direction I would like them to go.” Progressives like McGovern, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and others are demanding Biden reverse course. The intraparty tensions are rising just as Democrats, including those in tough races, are trying to use the IRA’s nearly $20 billion climate-focused agriculture investment to rally young and climate-focused voters as they seek to hold the White House and Senate, and win back the House majority. STABENOW WEIGHS IN: Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who is also a member of Democratic leadership, dismissed any potential fallout among progressive and climate-focused voters over the intraparty row. “I think we’ll be fine,” Stabenow told MA in a recent interview. “I think people — they're thrilled to have the climate money.” Stabenow said she hadn’t reviewed all of USDA’s newly allowed practices for the IRA money. But in contrast to Booker, who strongly opposes IRA funds being used for practices like methane digesters, Stabenow argues it’s better to get as many people adopting climate-friendly farming practices as possible. “Senator Booker and I are just on opposite ends on this,” Stabenow said, adding she supports the use of methane digesters. “Because I believe methane is 25 percent more dangerous than carbon and so keeping them out of the atmosphere from a climate standpoint is critical.” “I appreciate the other concerns that people have, and certainly I share in terms of the large corporate farms, but from a climate standpoint, methane is very dangerous and we need to deal with that,” Stabenow added. Farm bill fallout: The fight over the IRA’s climate-ag money is only set to heat up in coming months on Capitol Hill. The fate of the funding is at the center of the impasse between Hill Democrats and Republicans. We noted last week that House Republicans, in their latest push to unveil a farm bill draft this spring, are still pressing to repurpose some of the funds in order to pay for some key farm programs and other bipartisan priorities in the legislation.
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