Government Relations & Washington Update
October 2024
Congress Passes Continuing Resolution, Avoids Shutdown
On September 26th, President Biden signed a short-term continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown and provide funding through December 20th. The bill resolution received bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, passing the House 341-82 and Senate 78-18. Speaker Johnson had previously attempted to pass a resolution that would have funded the government into March 2025 and included a policy rider addressing non-citizen voting. When it became clear that the measure didn’t have sufficient support, he pivoted to a “clean” resolution that was consistent with the approach advanced in the Senate. This sets the stage for another potential shutdown just before the holidays with the results of the November election likely impacting how Congress moves forward with completing fiscal year 2025 appropriations.
Agriculture Committee Leaders Search for Path Forward on Farm Bill
As Congress continues work towards passing a new farm bill, the “four corners” of agriculture committee leadership are meeting to discuss potential pathways to move legislation this year. House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn “G.T.” Thompson (R-Pa.) Thompson, House Agriculture Committee ranking member David Scott (D-Ga.), Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member John Boozman (R-Ark.), have all recently made statements about the importance of completing a new Farm Bill. However, significant challenges remain on critical issues including nutrition and conservation funding and policy. While the current extension of the 2018 Farm Bill expires on September 30th, the majority of impacts would not be felt until the new crop year in 2025. Timing is very tight, with only a small window of time during the “lame duck” session after the election to finish legislation this year. Should Congress not be able to complete a new bill by the end of the calendar year, another short-term extension will be likely. Pressure continues to mount from stakeholders across the agricultural sector who are pushing for a comprehensive five-year package rather than temporary stopgap measures.
2024 Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) Conference
The Economic Research Service (ERS), along with Tufts University, University of Connecticut and University of Missouri are sponsoring the 2024 RIDGE Conference on October 7. The event will feature new economic research aimed at enhancing food security and dietary quality for low-income Americans. Both new and established investigators who were 2023 RIDGE grantees will present on topics such as: the effect of SNAP benefit distribution on subjective well-being; maternal WIC participation during pregnancy and gestational weight gain; pandemic-EBT benefits and dietary quality; and others. An agenda with all sessions, participants, and presentation topics is available.
There are both in-person and virtual options for attending the RIDGE conference. The conference will be held at the USDA, Food and Nutrition Service building located at 1320 Braddock Pl, Alexandria, VA 22314 from 8 am - 4 pm ET via in-person and online. Attendance is free, but advance registration is required for both in-person and online participants. Please use this Google registration form. For in-person participants who are not USDA employees, this form includes a field asking you to upload this USDA building entry form. If you are not a USDA employee, you must fill out this building entry form to attend the conference in person.
NIFA Invests $10.3M in Research about the Economics of Markets and Trade (A1641)
USDA-NIFA has recently announced $10.3 million in grants under the A1641 Economics, Markets and Trade program area priority within the Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities (AERC) program. The program area supports research on development of theories, methods and applications of agricultural economics. Economics, Markets and Trade supports funding for research within agricultural economics including agricultural markets, international trade, farm labor, consumer behavior and nutrition, food retail, agricultural production and processing, and agricultural policy.
Save the Date for USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum
USDA has announced the dates for the 2025 Agricultural Outlook Forum. The event will be held February 27-28 both virtually and in-person at the Crystal City Marriott in Arlington, VA. More information on the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum can be found HERE.