Related to this is the fact that the President has not nominated an Undersecretary for Trade at USDA. This person functions as the lead for agriculture in international trade negotiations. Hopefully, this will occur this year. The House is beginning to work on the new Farm Bill. While the current Farm Bill does not expire until next year, the House Democrats recognize that the House Agriculture Committee may have a different Chairman next year that may not agree with the Democrats’ wishes for the Farm Bill. As a result, the current Chairman has stated that negotiation on the new Farm Bill will begin in a few weeks. Work is now underway on drafts for climate change and environmental concerns especially covering conservation matters. The current House Agriculture Committee hopes to provide sufficient funding for these items and knows it will be more difficult next year with a different Committee Chairman and Committee makeup.
It is helpful to consider that all recent Farm Bills since 1990 have been passed in an election year with one exception. If this is to remain the same for this Farm bill it will have to be passed this year or will be passed in 2024. There has been disappointment that the Senate has not passed the House passed immigration bill which provided a legal workforce for agriculture. While there has been bipartisan work to reach an agreement in the Senate, it has not been reached. Three times the Democrats tried to include it in the Build Back Better bill, but each time the Senate Parliamentarian ruled it out of order so that it could not be included in this bill. Additional work will continue this year to find a way to obtain passage in the Senate. We are closely following the court cases considering the President’s mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees. Many states, labor unions, and others have filed suit to block this mandate. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined the mandate. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction. The Supreme Court is now considering this case. The Supreme Court resolves the matter when there is a split in the Circuits, as now exists. The Justice Department is vigorously defending the President’s mandate. Oral argument before the Supreme Court will occur this month. Everything in Washington is very intense and will continue to be all year. New developments will occur frequently.
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