Government Relations & Washington Update
January 2025
Congress Averts Government Shutdown, Extends Farm Bill
In a move to avoid a government shutdown, Congress approved a funding package on Friday that ensures the federal government remains open until March 14, 2025. The bipartisan agreement maintains funding at current levels while addressing several pressing issues. The package includes a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill, preventing disruptions to agricultural programs that would have reverted to permanent law, with dairy programs among the first to face impacts. Additionally, it allocates $100 billion in disaster relief and $10 billion in assistance to farmers, reflecting the pressing needs of communities affected by natural disasters and market conditions.
The package was the subject of much controversy as the December 20th deadline approached. The original version of the bill was over 1500 pages long and included numerous unrelated programs. President-elect Donald Trump and close ally Elon Musk were among the initial package's detractors, leading to significant revisions that were ultimately approved by Congress and signed into law. One outstanding issue that Trump urged to be included was addressing the debt ceiling. The absence of a debt ceiling provision means the Republican controlled Congress will have to tackle increasing the debt limit early in 2025.
The extension of the Farm Bill gives Congress additional time to finalize a new bill. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson has reaffirmed his commitment to advancing a comprehensive five-year Farm Bill early in 2025. Thompson emphasized the importance of long-term reauthorization to provide stability for farmers and address emerging challenges such as food security, climate resilience, and agricultural innovation.
Agriculture Committee Rosters Take Shape for Next Congress
As Congress prepares for a new session in January 2025, the parties have selected who will be the chairs and ranking members for committees. With Republicans taking control of the Senate, John Boozman (R-AR) will become chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Other Senate Republicans on the committee can be found here. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who had been the leading Democrat on the committee has retired and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) will become Ranking Member. The full Democrat roster can be found here.
In the House, GT Thompson (R-PA) will continue to chair the House Agriculture Committee. The full list of Republican members on the House Agriculture Committee can be found here. House Democrats have selected Angie Craig (D-MN) to serve as Ranking Member, replacing David Scott (D-GA) as the top Democrat on the committee. A full list of House Democrat members has yet to be released.
Biden Administration Makes Final Push on Regulations
As with all outgoing administrations, The Biden Administration is working to finalize a number of regulations before the end of his term. A few USDA rules of note that are expected to be completed before the Trump Administration takes over include:
Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets – The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has proposed a rule under its authorities given by the Packers and Stockyards Act to address unfair practices. USDA defines unfair practices as conduct that harms market participants and conduct that harms the market. The proposed rule, expected to be finalized in January, would:
- Define “unfair practice” with respect to market participants as a practice that—
- causes or is likely to cause substantial injury to one or more market participants, which
- the participant or participants cannot reasonably avoid, and which
- the regulated entity that has engaged in the act cannot justify by establishing countervailing benefits to the market participant or participants or to competition in the market that outweighs the substantial injury or likelihood of substantial injury.
- Defines “unfair practice” with respect to markets as a practice that:
- is a collusive, coercive, predatory, restrictive, deceitful or exclusionary method of competition that may negatively affect competitive conditions.
More information on the rule can be found here.
Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems – The proposed rule would (1) prohibit payment practices that reduce or discount payment rates in a contract under poultry grower ranking systems (commonly known as tournaments) used in contract poultry production for broiler chickens, (2) establish a duty of fair comparison to ensure that grower comparisons are conducted in a reasonable and equitable way that does not disadvantage specific growers and requires live poultry dealers (LPDs) to adopt policies and procedures in furtherance of operating a fair ranking system for broiler growers, and (3) requires LPDs to provide certain information to broiler growers when the LPD requests or requires the grower to make additional capital investments to guard against deception and to enable USDA to better enforce existing prohibitions on unfair additional capital investments adopted in 2011 (9 CFR 201.216). In addition, the proposed rule also highlights the importance USDA and the Department of Justice’s ongoing efforts to enforce the Packers & Stockyards Act prohibition on unfair practices through case-by-case enforcement. AMS intends for the proposed regulations to address unfairness and deception in broiler grower payments, tournament operations, and capital improvement systems.
More information can be found here.
These and other rules finalized at the end of the Biden Administration will come under scrutiny by the incoming Trump Administration. New administrations historically have paused the enforcement of last-minute rulemakings of the previous administration to allow for a review. Trump and the Republican controlled Congress may also elect to use the Congressional Review Act to cancel controversial regulations finalized within the last 60 legislative days (dating back to August). Rolling back EPA regulations was a target of the first Trump Administration and will likely be a focus again in his second term.
USDA and FDA Release Dietary Guidelines Committee Report
On December 10th, USDA and FDA jointly announced the availability of the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on DietaryGuidelines.gov. The report contains the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s findings and advice to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The report has been met with criticism from animal agriculture as it discounts the nutritional contributions of meat and recommends decreased intake of red meat and increased plant-based protein consumption. The report, alongside public comments and federal agency input, will inform the two departments as they develop the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030, which is expected to be published in late 2025.