Legislative Activity House Agriculture Committee Hearing to Focus on Watershed Programs On Wednesday, the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry is scheduled to hold a hearing focused on small watershed infrastructure, specifically the Watershed Rehabilitation Program and the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations (WFPO) Program. Both programs are administered by the United States … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Sonny Perdue to Testify Before the House Agriculture Committee House Agriculture Committee leaders wasted no time in arranging for newly-confirmed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to testify before the committee. Nearly three weeks ago, Sonny Perdue was sworn in as the 31st Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Up until this … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity 2018 Farm Bill Hearings Officially Underway; Kansas’ “Big First” Representative Roger Marshall Welcomes Panelists Last week, leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee – Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) – traveled to Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, to kick off the first 2018 Farm Bill hearing. The discussion … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Agriculture Committee to Debate SNAP Purchase Restrictions This week, the House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing to explore the effects of restricting certain purchases for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients. The committee will hear from five witnesses representing varied backgrounds. The witnesses are said to represent the American Enterprise Institute, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Outlook for the 115th Congress On Tuesday, January 31, the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee – led by Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) – held a brief business meeting to adopt the committee’s rules and funding resolution for the 115th Congress. Chairman Roberts announced that a separate … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Agriculture Committee to Hold Organizational Meeting On Wednesday, February 1, the House Agriculture Committee will convene for a business meeting to consider, and likely adopt, measures intended to guide and organize the committee during the 115th Congress. During the committee’s formal organizational meeting, members will consider the rules, oversight plan, and staff … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Sonny Perdue Selected for USDA Secretary With the selection of Sonny Perdue, former two-term governor of Georgia, to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), President Trump’s Cabinet picks are complete. Perdue must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a simple majority vote before his position as USDA Secretary is official. As … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) During the 114th Congress, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX) has carried out a top-to-bottom review campaign of SNAP to highlight potential areas of improvement to the program. This week, the House Agriculture Committee will hold a full committee hearing to examine food access. The United States … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Press on with Financial Services Reform Efforts On June 23, 2016, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) unveiled a discussion draft of legislation aimed at replacing the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). The legislation, Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs (Financial CHOICE Act), … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) On Thursday, May 12, the House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing to examine issues some retailers face while navigating SNAP requirements. During the first 16 months of the 114th Congress, the House Agriculture Committee, along with its Subcommittee on Nutrition, held 14 hearings that focused on SNAP. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Financial Services Committee Sets Agenda for the Year Ahead As Senate Banking Committee Largely Silent Following the recent House Financial Services Committee retreat, we expect financial services lawmakers – at least in the House – to begin moving forward with their 2016 policy agenda. Among their priorities for this year (many of … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Financial Services Lawmakers Hone in on Dodd-Frank Reform as Fifth-Year Anniversary Approaches Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed along party lines in a 16-14 vote a $20.6 billion financial services appropriations package into which Republican appropriators inserted Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby’s (R-AL) financial services regulatory reform bill. While the bill … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Banking Committee Markup Not Yet Scheduled This week, the Senate Banking Committee was expected to hold a markup regarding proposals to provide regulatory relief to small banks. However, the markup has not yet been scheduled, as Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) has not agreed to limit the upcoming markup to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Confirms Three CFTC Commissioners, House To Take Up CFTC Reauthorization Bill On June 3, the Senate confirmed Timothy Massad as Chairman and Sharon Bowen and J. Christopher Giancarlo as Commissioners at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Chairman Massad was sworn in to his new office on June 5. It is expected … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Farm Bill Conferees On Saturday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) named farm bill conferees. The Republicans appointed 17 members, including 12 Agriculture Committee members, two Foreign Affairs Committee members, two Ways and Means Committee members, and one member to represent the Republican leadership. Republican conferees … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY FARM BILL On Saturday, September 28, in its fast-track rule to consider the continuing resolution, the House approved (by a vote of 226-191) a rule to merge its “agriculture-only” bill and the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013 (H.R. 3102), which would cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Farm Bill. Last Thursday, June 20, the House failed to pass its version of the Farm Bill by a vote of 195 to 234. Overall, 171 Republicans voted for the measure and 62 opposed the measure due to concerns that there was still too much spending on farm subsidies and the Supplemental … Continue Reading
