Washington Insider -- Friday

By DTN's Washington Insider

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Does Boehner's Leadership Job Become Easier or More Difficult with Larger Majority?

With just a handful of House races still to be decided, it appears that Republicans will hold at least 244 seats in the 435-seat chamber, up 11 from the 233 seats held now. The larger majority should give presumed House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, will a little more breathing room on close votes and reduce the need to convince as many Democrats to vote for GOP measures. (House bills require 218 votes to pass.)

That presumes, of course, that the new members who will be sworn in next January will be of a more "go-along, get-along" disposition than the Republican tea party firebrands with whom Boehner has had to deal for the past four years. Analysts are looking at the public pronouncements of the newly elected House members in an effort to determine whether they will dilute the tea party faction's power or contribute to it. One way or another, the calculus of leading the next Congress will change.

Of note, Boehner's office issued a statement pointing out that in the 114th Congress, House Republicans will have the largest majority since they held 270 seats in the 71st Congress that met in 1929 and 1930. Seeing as how those two years were not among the two best for the U.S. economy or for Congress, members will want to keep that in mind in January as they begin the next session.

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Maryland Looking for a Win-Win Operation on Its Eastern Shore

An Eastern Shore Maryland poultry farm has received a state grant of $970,000 that it will use to install a manure-to-energy technology system that could reduce the farm's nutrient pollution by 90%, according to press reports.

Poultry manure contains large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus and typically is spread over farm fields as fertilizer. However, since the hundreds of poultry farms on the land east of the Chesapeake Bay are a major source of nutrient pollution and since Maryland and the other five states sharing the bay's 64,000 square mile watershed are under a federal mandate to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution going into the bay, officials in all six states are looking for alternatives to spreading poultry manure on farm fields.

Livestock producers and conservation officials have long known that the amount of waste produced by farm animals far outstrips the ability of farmland in the area to absorb the waste. Converting the waste to electricity appears to be a good technique for disposing of livestock manure, but at nearly a million dollars for an installation, it likely will take quite some time for this conversion process to become widely used.

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Washington Insider: New Ag Leaders

Now that the dust is settling a bit from Tuesday's elections the implications for agriculture are being chewed over by pundits. Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts said in his victory speech that he expects to claim the chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee in January when Republicans officially take over control of the Senate. That's because Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, who is now the top Republican on the Agriculture panel, is poised to take the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee and give up his leadership position on Agriculture.

Roberts is telling the press that he will focus on reducing regulations he says hinder business in general and agriculture in particular. He has been particularly active in criticism of the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed definition of "waters of the United States" as too broad. EPA says it is still soliciting comments on its proposal, but Roberts says new legislation is needed to stop final action by EPA on the rule.

Roberts also says he will take aim at government programs that foster dependency, which observers suggest means yet another look at the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The Senate Agriculture Committee has jurisdiction over the program, which cost $76 billion in FY2013 but will spend about $58.5 billion in fiscal 2014 after the expiration of stimulus spending that boosted average benefits. Still, Roberts has been especially critical of SNAP, arguing that the 2014 farm bill failed to significantly overhaul the program.

The nutrition programs also are likely to face scrutiny by the House Ag Committee if, as expected, Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, becomes chairman. As part of his campaign for the job, Conaway pledged to hold a series of hearings on the programs.

Observers such as Chuck Connor, president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives are suggesting that the direction of the Agriculture Committee under Conaway wouldn't change that much from that of current Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla. "However, I expect Conaway to be more aggressive when looking at issues impacting food production, such as issues at the Food and Drug Administration," Conner told the press.

Observers suggest that Roberts' focus on regulations likely will signal a more robust oversight regime for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Under current Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the committee has held only a handful of oversight hearings during the two years of the 113th Congress.

This is partly because Senate leadership told committees with oversight responsibility to let financial regulators "do their jobs" while implementing Dodd-Frank rules. So, it remains to be seen what a Republican majority will portend for CFTC reauthorization and the raft of Dodd-Frank "fixes" that were passed in the last four years by the House, some with Democratic support, but never acted upon in the senior chamber.

Other priorities ahead likely will include implementation of the 2014 farm law, which Roberts voted against in February. Lobbyists say they expect Roberts could take on issues such as labeling foods made with genetically modified organisms as well as environmental regulations affecting farmers.

Also on the horizon is reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act that expires Sept. 30, 2015 and governs the National School Lunch Program. It was last extended in 2010 and faced attacks by Republicans this year who said the nutrition requirements should be waived for certain school districts losing money.

Those attempts stalled in June during fiscal 2015 appropriations negotiations, but could resurface if lawmakers decide to work on an omnibus spending package before the current continuing resolution expires on Dec. 11.

It is, of course, far too early to guess what issues will be pushed by the stronger Republican majorities. The new farm bill is not likely to be reopened, but a number of "related" issues such as trade policy, "fast track" authority for the president, negotiations for free trade areas in the Atlantic and Pacific Regions — and, even the country of origin labeling program seem likely to receive new attention, as well as Supplemental Nutrition and financial regulations.

The fact is, the new majorities inevitably will face new expectations by the electorate that certainly will be controversial and at least as difficult as the farm bill itself proved to be, Washington Insider believes.

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(GH/CZ)

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