Does not matter: A new front in the food box fracas — The House is coming back

Aug 17, 2020

With help from Helena Bottemiller Evich, Theodoric Meyer and Daniel Lippman

Editor's Note: Weekly Agriculture is a weekly version of POLITICO Pro's daily Agriculture policy newsletter, Morning Agriculture. POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.

HAPPY MID-AUGUST MONDAY. Let's start with an under-the-radar, potentially potent issue we're keeping an eye on this week:

The Agriculture Department is facing fresh scrutiny over reports that the administration is putting signed letters from President Donald Trump into food boxes for hungry families, under a $3 billion stimulus program aimed at diverting excess farm goods like meat, milk and produce to food banks and other nonprofits.

In the letter, Trump says he "prioritized sending nutrition food from our farmers to families in need" and promises to "support America's recovery every step of the way," along with other promotional language. It also includes basic health recommendations, like urging recipients to wash their hands, stay home if they feel sick and "consider wearing a face covering when in public."

Here's the friction point: House Democrats are starting to raise questions about the messaging, namely whether it constitutes improper "political activity" by USDA officials. Dozens of lawmakers led by Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), a senior House Ag member, are demanding to know who ordered the Trump letters and whether it's mandatory or voluntary for contractors and nonprofits to include them in their food boxes.

— "Using a federal relief program to distribute a self-promoting letter from the president to American families just three months before the presidential election is inappropriate and a violation of federal law," they wrote to the department on Friday. "We strongly urge you to end the practice immediately."

Sound familiar? The concerns largely echo the backlash against Trump signing his name onto millions of stimulus checks sent to Americans by the IRS after Congress passed an initial $2 trillion economic rescue package in March.

— More details: Fox News, which first flagged the letters, reports that they were Ivanka Trump's idea. The president's daughter and senior adviser has been involved in promoting the food box program since it launched in May.

Workers hand out food boxes at an emergency food distribution event in Maryland. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO

TAKING A STEP BACK: The initiative was already somewhat contentious because of USDA's selection of private contractors, including several with little experience in food distribution (most prominently, a wedding planner in San Antonio that was awarded nearly $40 million to pack and deliver food boxes across the Southwest).

USDA officials got an earful from Fudge and other Democrats at a House Ag hearing last month about their choice of vendors and oversight of the program.

So what's the upshot? Besides heightened scrutiny of the ongoing effort, the new controversy could further motivate key lawmakers who are pushing to tighten restrictions on how the department spends any future farm relief funds — assuming Congress and the White House ever agree on a new stimulus package…

HAPPENING TOMORROW 1:30 p.m. EDT – A SPECIAL CONVENTION PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW WITH SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI SPONSORED BY AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS: A global pandemic. An economic crisis. Stalled negotiations on the latest Covid relief package. And a historic election amidst it all. Join POLITICO Playbook Co-authors Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman as the 2020 Democratic National Convention kicks off for a virtual interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to get a behind-the-scenes look at what is happening on and off the stage. REGISTER HERE.

WELCOME TO MORNING AG! It's Monday, Aug. 17, and your host thinks summer is flying by faster than usual this year. Thoughts? Send 'em to rmccrimmon@politico.com and @ryanmccrimmon, and follow us @Morning_Ag.

Driving the Day

THE HOUSE IS COMING BACK: Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Sunday night that she's cutting the August recess short and bringing the chamber back into session this week to confront Trump's efforts to undermine the U.S. Postal Service. The chamber is expected to vote as soon as Saturday to block the administration's plans for major changes at USPS that could hamstring mail-in voting, which will reach unprecedented levels this year amid the pandemic.

What's coming up: Democrats are summoning Louis DeJoy, a Trump donor appointed to lead USPS and who took over in mid-June, to appear at an emergency hearing one week from today. They've already requested a slew of documents seeking details on why DeJoy cracked down on overtime hours, restricted certain deliveries and offered conflicting information on the timeline for mail-in ballots.

While we're here: Some members are pressing House leaders to act on certain economic relief measures while they're back in session, like voting to extend enhanced federal unemployment benefits, as negotiations with Senate Republicans and the White House are showing no signs of life. Speaking of economic relief measures…

TOP DEMOCRAT BACKS RESTAURANT BILL: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is the latest member of Congress to co-sponsor legislation that would set up a $120 billion fund to rescue the restaurant industry. The measure was introduced by Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) in June.

— "As one of the hardest hit industries during this pandemic, we must do everything we can to ensure our restaurants and our restaurant workers are protected, otherwise we will shortchange our entire economy," Schumer said in a statement, per POLITICO Influence.

Industry groups celebrated Schumer's support for the bill, but it's still hard to tell if the legislation is going anywhere in Congress. While 28 senators have signed on, the measure was left out of Senate Republicans' economic relief package last month.

In Case You Missed It

YOUR POST-WEEKEND REFRESHER — Catch up on some of our top news and notes from last week:

Derecho wallops the corn-belt: Severe storms ripped across the Midwest last week, flattening crops and pummeling grain bins in the largest corn and soybean growing states. Iowa officials estimated that 10 million acres of farmland were affected by the extreme weather, along with millions of bushels of stored grains. Widespread damage to storage sites could also be a problem with the fall harvest approaching and large stockpiles expected this year.

Minnesota Republicans pick Peterson's challenger: House Ag Chair Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) will face former Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach in November, after Fischbach won the crowded GOP primary on Tuesday. Republicans are again gunning to flip Peterson's conservative rural district, which voted for Trump by more than 30 percentage points in 2016. Read the full rundown from the Minnesota primaries, including several other House Ag members in competitive races.

Biden picks Harris: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden chose Sen. Kamala Harris to be his running mate. The California Democrat hasn't been a major player in ag policy, but she backed Senate legislation to rewrite farm labor laws and laid out a detailed rural agenda and climate plan during her bid for president this cycle — including many ideas for agriculture that overlap with Biden's positions.

INTRODUCING POLITICO MINUTES: An unprecedented campaign season, demands an unconventional approach to news coverage. POLITICO Minutes is a new, interactive content experience that reveals the top takeaways you need to know in an easy-to-digest, swipeable format delivered straight to your inbox. Get a breakdown of what's been learned so far, why it matters, and what to watch for going forward. Sign up for POLITICO Minutes, launching at the 2020 Conventions.

Row Crops

— The U.S. and China postponed a check-up on the Phase One trade deal planned for last weekend, citing scheduling conflicts. Trade analysts suggested the delay was not necessarily a bad sign and would give Beijing more time to ramp up its purchases of U.S. farm goods, which so far are below the levels needed to meet China's annual import commitments under the agreement. The South China Morning Post has more.

— The Trump administration is punting difficult decisions about its ethanol policies until after the November elections, aiming to avoid any more backlash from the oil and agriculture industries that have long struggled over federal biofuel rules. The EPA faces a late-November deadline to determine the volume of ethanol that oil refiners must blend into the U.S. gasoline pool, Pro Energy's Eric Wolff reports this a.m.

— Trump is withdrawing his controversial nomination of William Perry Pendley to lead the Bureau of Land Management. Pendley faced considerable opposition in the Senate, and he will instead keep his current appointment at the agency, per Pro Energy's Anthony Adragna and Ben Lefebvre.

— Nearly 20 percent of Americans with kids at home last month couldn't afford to feed their families enough food, up from 17 percent in early June, according to Census figures. The numbers are expected to rise now that some government benefits have expired. The Wall Street Journal has the story.

— Democrats are looking to revive the troubled Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for small businesses including farms, even though it was widely criticized for delivering less aid than promised to many employers. Farm-state lawmakers earlier this year pushed to ensure ag operations were eligible for the loans. More from Pro Financial Services' Zachary Warmbrodt.

— Thor Christianson, the White House liaison at USDA, is heading to the Education Department, where he'll work for Assistant Secretary Robert King on higher education and coronavirus issues, per POLITICO Playbook.

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