A September to remember

1. The Senate returns to Washington this week with less than four weeks to fund the government through fiscal year 2024.
2. Appropriations and the farm bill are both running up against a Sept. 30 deadline.
3. MA caught up with the National Corn Growers Association to break down the trade group’s top priorities as Congress hurdles toward reauthorizing a farm bill.

FALL FOLLIES: The return of the Senate on Tuesday is the starting gun for a pair of sprints: funding the government through fiscal 2024 and reauthorizing a farm bill for the next five years before a critical Sept. 30 deadline.

Starting with approps: The Senate has already advanced all 12 appropriations bills from committee. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a “Dear Colleague” letter last week that the Senate’s “focus will be on funding the government and preventing House Republican extremists from forcing a government shutdown.” That likely means the Senate will begin considering them on the floor this session.

“We cannot afford the brinkmanship or hostage-taking we saw from House Republicans earlier this year when they pushed our country to the brink of default to appease the most extreme members of their party. … I have urged House Republican leadership to follow the Senate’s lead and pass bipartisan appropriations bills,” he added.

Complications: While Schumer says the Senate will lead the way on appropriations, there’s no easy way around a House mired in gridlock.

The debt limit deal struck by Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden was supposed to pave the way to a neat and tidy appropriations process, but House conservatives didn’t get the memo. Instead, they pressured McCarthy and appropriations leaders to undercut agreed to spending numbers in the debt limit deal, resulting in partisan bills filled with massive cuts and wishlist conservative policy riders — and the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus still wants more.

On Ag-FDA: House Republican leadership tried and failed to pass the Agriculture-FDA spending bill before they left for August recess, but that bill never even made it past the Rules Committee. Among the controversial issues were steeper cuts to the USDA’s agriculture and nutrition programs and a rider to ban mail-order sale of the abortion pill mifepristone.

TICK-TOCK ON THE CLOCK: Finding a way to crack the impasse on spending will need to happen before Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year and the last day before a potential government shutdown. The farm bill will also expire on Sept. 30.

Congressional leaders have said a CR is likely coming, due to the time crunch. The farm bill will also likely need an extension to keep critical farm programs up and running before Congress passes a new one. Key agriculture lawmakers have noted that appropriations, a backup at the Congressional Budget Office and the debt limit fight have delayed work on the farm bill.

Even a CR will be hard: According to Playbook, McCarthy last week urged his members to simply back a stopgap and hold their policy demands for long-term government spending bills, a fight that will come later in the year. The Freedom Caucus said two weeks ago that they would do no such thing, and would only support a CR with their priorities and no additional funding for Ukraine.

That’ll be a problem for the Senate and the White House, which are more amenable to folding a supplementary budget request from the White House into a CR.

Among the White House’s asks for ag in their so-called “anomalies” report to tag along on the CR: $1.4 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; modifying loan eligibility at USDA to provide more loans to non-socially disadvantaged farmers; and reauthorizing the mandatory livestock reporting program.

Kicking the farm bill can: Notably, Schumer’s “Dear Colleague” did not mention the farm bill — something that raised eyebrows among ag circles.

As it stands, getting the farm bill done by Sept. 30 with a government shutdown looming seems all but impossible.

CORN GROWERS Q&A: MA caught up with Brooke S. Appleton, vice president of public policy at the National Corn Growers Association, via email to break down the group’s big farm bill priorities.

The answers have been edited for clarity.

MA: What are NCGA’s top priorities for the farm bill?

Brooke S. Appleton: As grower leaders for NCGA testified this spring, crop insurance is our number one priority in the farm bill. Federal crop insurance has a proven track record of helping producers quickly respond to natural disasters.

As one corn grower recently said in an interview, risk management is all about “crop insurance, crop insurance, crop insurance.”

NCGA supports increasing the affordability of crop insurance for producers, and we are working with coalition partners to defeat efforts to restrict producer access to crop insurance products or make harmful program cuts.

Corn growers are also committed to strengthening the producer safety net. And we are seeking improvements to strengthen the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage commodity programs. These two programs support farmers only when they face significant drops in commodity prices or revenues.

USDA trade promotion programs are also top of mind. We are asking Congress to increase funding in the farm bill for the Market Access … and the Foreign Market Development programs. These programs promote U.S. agricultural products overseas and connect potential foreign customers to American farmers and their products, returning an average of $24 per dollar spent.

And finally, we are highly supportive of USDA’s voluntary conservation programming, which plays an important role in helping advance the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. SDGs addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article:

   • SDG 2: Zero Hunger
   • SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
   • SDG 13: Climate Action
   • SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

2. Specific targets under those SDGs based on the article’s content:

   • SDG 2.4: By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding, and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
   • SDG 12.3: By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.
   • SDG 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
   • SDG 17.16: Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology, and financial resources.

3. Indicators mentioned or implied in the article:

   • Indicator for SDG 2.4: Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, such as crop rotation, conservation tillage, and agroforestry.
   • Indicator for SDG 12.3: Reduction in food waste and losses along the production and supply chains.
   • Indicator for SDG 13.1: Increase in resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters.
   • Indicator for SDG 17.16: Increase in partnerships and collaborations for sustainable development, including public-private partnerships.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: politico.com

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