| | | | | |  | | By Ryan McCrimmon | With help from Helena Bottemiller Evich 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.
| | | PUT A BOW ON IT: The Senate on Saturday passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package after a marathon of overnight votes, bouncing it back to the House for final approval of a handful of relatively minor changes. That vote is expected on Tuesday — which would send the package to President Joe Biden's desk before unemployment benefits expire on March 14. What's new? The Senate-passed bill excludes a provision to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and it changed unemployment benefits to $300 per week through Sept. 6 (instead of the original $400 per week through August approved by the House). The $1,400 stimulus checks will also be phased out at lower income levels. The upshot: Senate passage, via a 50-49 party-line vote, pretty much seals the deal on Biden's No. 1 legislative priority — and one of the largest federal aid packages in history. — Agricultural provisions: The bill includes billions of dollars to bolster the food and agriculture supply chain; another expansion of food assistance for hungry families; historic debt relief for socially disadvantaged farmers; and funds for USDA to create a racial equity commission. — About that debt relief: The provisions survived despite an amendment by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to strip them from the bill. The amendment failed 49-50 along party lines, leaving intact the $5 billion in aid targeted to farmers of color. What's up next? The Senate is back to confirming Biden's Cabinet nominees this week, including a procedural vote Tuesday on Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge's nomination for HUD secretary. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Saturday also filed cloture on Michael Regan's nomination for EPA administrator. HAPPY MONDAY, MARCH 8! Welcome to your Weekly Agriculture report, and happy national proofreading day! Send tips to rmccrimmon@politico.com and @ryanmccrimmon, and follow us @Morning_Ag. IG DIGGING INTO USDA SAFEGUARDS FOR MEAT INSPECTORS: The Agriculture Department's internal watchdog is probing whether officials took adequate steps to protect food safety inspectors during the pandemic, after hundreds of federal employees were sickened and several died, our Liz Crampton reports. How we got here: Early in the pandemic, when the coronavirus was tearing through major meatpacking plants, the White House ordered slaughterhouses to keep operating — purportedly to stave off potential meat shortages. But federal plant inspectors warned that USDA wasn't doing enough to protect their health while they conducted food safety checks at those facilities. Now, USDA's Inspector General is investigating what actions the Food Safety and Inspection Service took to keep employees from getting sick on the job, as well as other questions raised by Senate Agriculture member Michael Bennet. The Colorado Democrat cited concerns about "federal actions that may have contributed to the spread of the virus in these facilities."
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FDA TO ADDRESS TOXIC METALS IN BABY FOOD: The agency said Friday that it will begin the lengthy process of tightening standards on heavy metals commonly found in baby foods, after a House panel found that major companies sold food products with much higher levels of arsenic, lead and cadmium than what health experts consider safe for infants, our Helena Bottemiller Evich reports.
The backstory: The House Oversight findings last month caused a panic among parents and prompted class-action lawsuits against companies including Beech-Nut and Gerber. Companies named in the report tried to reassure parents that their products are safe, but the efforts did little to stop the blowback. Exposure to the metals is considered a risk to brain development in infants and young children. The FDA has also been criticized for being slow to act. The agency took years to set voluntary standards for inorganic arsenic in rice cereal for infants, though health advocates still consider them too lax. A separate voluntary limit on the metal in apple juice has yet to be finalized after draft guidance was released in 2013. (Brush up on the backstory from Helena here.) Now, the FDA says it's a high priority and is telling baby food makers they should take steps to reduce metal levels as part of their own food safety controls — a move that leverages existing requirements under the Food Safety Modernization Act. But don't expect pressure from the Hill to let up: Congress has historically let public health agencies like FDA set their own safety limits, but lawmakers appear ready to step in and mandate limits if the agency doesn't move on this. — Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, chair of the Oversight subcommittee that released the landmark report last month, said Friday he was "disappointed" that the FDA didn't commit to imposing rules that would remove toxic metals from all baby foods. — "It highlights the need for Congress to pass legislation with strict standards and timelines," the Illinois Democrat said. "Babies don't have time to wait for FDA to fill in details. Parents: I encourage you to keep pushing for progress with us." | | | BIDEN'S NEW AGRICULTURE ADVISOR: The White House on Friday tapped Kelliann Blazek as special assistant to the president for agriculture and rural policy — another sign that rural development issues could gain traction under the Biden administration, Liz reports. Blazek most recently was director of Wisconsin's Office of Rural Prosperity. She previously was counsel to Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), taught at George Mason University's law school and worked at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the White House said. Her appointment comes after farm-state lawmakers and rural advocates pressed Biden to name a White House rural envoy to focus on health and economic challenges in those communities. | | | | 
Stephen Brashear/Getty Images | UNWINDING TRANSATLANTIC TARIFFS: The Biden administration has reached an agreement with the EU to temporarily suspend tariffs on billions of dollars in goods stemming from the longstanding dispute over airline subsidies, following a similar deal with the U.K. last week. It's one of Biden's first steps to ease trade tension with Europe that built up under former President Donald Trump, writes Pro Trade's Doug Palmer. In both cases, duties will be paused for four months while the White House negotiates a long-term settlement with Brussels and London. The thaw provides some relief to many importers and exporters — especially food and beverage companies caught in the crossfire of a dispute unrelated to their industries. Not going down smooth: American whiskey sales to the EU, however, are still subject to a 25 percent tariff that was imposed as retaliation for Trump's steel and aluminum duties. The whiskey tariff is also set to double at the beginning of June if the U.S. metal duties stay in place. — Lisa Hawkins, senior vice president at the Distilled Spirits Council, said the new agreement was a "promising breakthrough" but the group is "extremely disappointed" that the whiskey duties remain. For what it's worth: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Friday that the easing of tariffs could "open the door" to trade deals with the EU and U.K. if those governments are open to allowing more access to U.S. farm goods — a major sticking point in previous talks.
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| | | — A last-minute Trump administration plan that would give USDA regulatory power over genetically engineered livestock is in limbo after the Biden administration on Friday reopened the public comment period. Livestock trade groups have long pushed for the department to take over jurisdiction of GE animals from the FDA, which the industry claims has stifled innovation with its slow approval process. — USDA's Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture remain severely understaffed after the agencies were abruptly relocated from the Beltway area to Kansas City in 2019, causing an exodus of career employees, the AP reports. Vilsack told POLITICO last week that department leaders "need to be aggressive in terms of filling these vacancies, particularly in the science area." — More than 12,000 meatpacking workers will have access to coronavirus vaccines at major meat plants across five states, including JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill, National Beef and Smithfield Foods, under a partnership with state officials and the United Food and Commercial Workers. More details from UFCW. — Chicken leg prices have surged to roughly 39 cents per pound in Northeastern wholesale markets, nearly double the pandemic-low of roughly 20 cents in September, per USDA data. Poultry legs are more dependent on exports and institutional food service than other meat parts like wings. Bloomberg has the story. — A Missouri state lawmaker is pushing to ban foreign companies from buying up farmland in the state, a policy that could have major implications for global food conglomerates with a large footprint in the Midwest, Modern Farmer writes. — After an influx of home gardeners during the pandemic led to seed shortages in 2020, there's a new seed-sharing initiative created by the nonprofit Slow Food USA aimed at making access easier this year: Share a Seed. More from Washington City Paper. THAT'S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line: rmccrimmon@politico.com; hbottemiller@politico.com; lcrampton@politico.com; jyearwood@politico.com and pjoshi@politico.com. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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