Category: Legislative Updates

Congress returns Monday for a two week session that will address additional federal funding for targeted industries under coronavirus relief assistance. Early Senate reports are that proposed agriculture funding may be in line with House passed legislation to provide an estimated $33 billion to ag programs, including $16.5 billion for additional payments to supplement payments for losses farmers suffered since the pandemic outbreak. Bill Northey, USDA’s undersecretary for farm production recently said that there should be enough money on hand to give farmers the remaining 20% of what they are due under the $16 billion Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. He goes on to say the payments should be made by the end of August. With Congress set to recess in August and November elections looming, this may be the last chance to secure needed financial aid.

The House of Representatives earlier this month passed its $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill H.R. 2, known as the Moving Forward Act, by a mostly party-line vote of 233 to 188. This package was built primarily around the $494 billion INVEST in America Act surface transportation reauthorization bill adopted by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

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Just this year, at least 10 states have introduced new soil management policies that call for further research or data collection, or offer tax exemptions, technical assistance or even grant money to, among other actions, plant cover crops, diversify crop rotations and reduce tillage that can tear apart beneficial fungi.

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ASCE’s Government Relations team and our partners in the U.S. Levee Safety Coalition met with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials to discuss collaborative opportunities on the National Levee Safety Program (NLSP). ASCE has been a long advocate for full funding of the NLSP to raise the nation’s levees’ grade up from a “D.” As a result, the Fiscal Year 2020 House appropriations bill included triple the amount of funding for the NSLP as compared to prior years. John Peterson - LICA Director of Government Relations.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reminds communities, farmers and ranchers, families and small businesses in the path of Hurricane Dorian that USDA has programs that provide assistance in the wake of disasters. USDA staff in regional, state and county offices stand ready and are eager to help.

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Federal, state and local lawmakers recently had the opportunity to see the extent of erosion in Mentor, Ohio, which has lost more than 6 acres in the last decade. Mentor leaders emphasized the need for outside financial aid, which has proven elusive.  

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Our trading relationships need to ensure America’s farmers, manufacturers, and small business owners can succeed and compete on the world stage, and USMCA does just that.

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Ahead of the Aug. 12 USDA reports, traders and farmers expected this round of information to provide clarity to the unprecedented 2019 corn and soybean crops. Yet, this year’s August reports, which included more information than ever before, mostly created more questions.

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