Washington Insider -- Wednesday

By DTN's Washington Insider

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

Congressional Republicans Likely to Diverge on Legislative Agenda for 2015-16

Congress returns to Washington today for a lame duck session that is scheduled to run for a total of 15 legislative days, but could terminate before that. Republicans, who spent the past year battling with Democrats for control of Congress, now are bracing for their own internal feud over the party's new agenda.

One area of possible disagreement between party leaders and the rank and file over whether to first advance the most ambitious goals — dismantling Obamacare and rolling back environmental rules — or focus on issues less likely to face a veto from President Obama. GOP leadership reportedly wants to begin 2015 by emphasizing more pragmatic initiatives over partisan fights to show the party is capable of governing. These include repealing a medical-device tax enacted to help pay for Obamacare and granting the president greater trade-negotiating authority.

The tea party wing of the House GOP is having none of that. Members of that faction are calling for their leaders to take up the issues that most Republicans ran on, with repeal of Obamacare at the forefront.

In the Senate, tea party sentiments are likely to be stated more forcefully next year as super-conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is joined by newly elected –– and equally conservative –– Republican Sens. Joni Ernst from Iowa, and Dan Sullivan from Alaska.

If congressional Republican leaders are able to harness the enthusiasm of their troops and get them headed in the same direction, the GOP should prove a formidable political force over the next two years. If not, legislative gridlock is likely to continue.

***

Business, Labor Leaders Increase Lobbying Efforts on Trade Promotion Authority

As members of Congress return to Capitol Hill today, business groups are renewing calls for congressional action on fast-track trade authority for the president while labor and environmental interests are increasing their opposition. The administration will need fast-track, formally known as trade promotion authority (TPA), to conclude both the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership free trade agreements.

There has been speculation that Congress could take up TPA this month or next, but the odds of that happening are slim. TPA will have a much greater chance of passage next year when Republicans –– who generally favor the two trade agreements –– control both chambers.

The White House supports a grant of TPA, but many congressional Democrats and their allies do not. The politics of the issue are thus more complex than they were in the past, when most members on both sides of the aisle supported increased trade.

***

Washington Insider: Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Washington offers a range of unique organizations with an almost infinite range of purposes, mostly designed to cajole or threaten voters to see things their way. So, it was not much of a surprise when yet another group announced a few years ago that is was intending to change the world of agriculture.

The new group certainly has credentials. It boasts the requisite PR-type name of AGree and says it is "a collaborative initiative" of nine of the world's leading foundations, including the Ford Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and The Walton Family Foundation.

It also has the highest possible purpose: "to seek to drive positive change in the food and agriculture system by connecting and challenging leaders from diverse communities to catalyze action and elevate food and agriculture policy as a national priority." AGree says it recognizes the interconnected nature of food and agriculture systems globally and seeks to break down barriers and work across issue areas." Who could complain with any of that?

Now, there has been considerable notice that the group, after some three years of work, says it has issued "a landmark set of consensus recommendations and targeted initiatives on critical issues facing food and agriculture."

AGree says it wants: a major shift in how conservation of working landscapes is undertaken and funded toward watershed-scale partnership approaches; a commitment to making food security an enduring goal of U.S. foreign assistance through permanent law; and, significant intensification of efforts to integrate public and private sector programs and policies focused on improving community health through food and nutrition.

The organization feels its "consensus recommendations will serve as roadmaps for action," according to Deborah Atwood, AGree's executive director. It used assemblies of "wide-ranging and often divergent points of view" to develop the recommendations. Now it will focus on implementation and advocacy. Each initiative will work on a key dimension of the food and agriculture system and tackle specific areas of concern, which may include both policy change and private sector action, and will require diverse partnerships.

The organization credits its progress to "substantial engagement and dialogue across a wide variety of interests that led to consensus," Dan Glickman, AGree co-chair and former U.S. secretary of Agriculture told the press. AGree Co-Chair and Chairman of Stonyfield Farm, Inc., Gary Hirshberg, also noted that "... we are forging partnerships to ensure a 21st century food system that can meet demand for affordable and nutritious food into the future and make healthy food available and accessible to all."

So, AGree certainly offers some prominent muscle and even more prominent hustle, but it may have underestimated the task at hand, a number of skeptical old aggies have been heard to comment. Has it really tackled any of the hard, hard problems? What will be its approach to trade policy and the need to compete in growing foreign markets? What will be the balance between domestic nutrition and poverty programs and ag subsidies? How can the needed investments in infrastructure be supported? Can it tackle the even tougher problem of the widening image of farmers as merely factories with little concern for consumers, food products or the environment?

Just now, AGree says it is in the position of claiming "consensus" proposals on many of these things. As a result, it can expect to be challenged to say just how many and what.

There is no doubt that discussions of considerable depth among many hundreds of ag stakeholders can provide valuable insights into agricultural and food challenges and opportunities. However, the claim of successful approaches to all these often bitter issues strains credulity at least a little. It will be interesting, indeed, to see if the claimed consensus really turns out to be in areas where the differences actually are wide, Washington Insider believes.

---

Want to keep up with events in Washington and elsewhere throughout the day? See DTN Top Stories, our frequently updated summary of news developments of interest to producers. You can find DTN Top Stories in DTN Ag News, which is on the Main Menu on classic DTN products, on the News Menu on Farm Dayta, and on the News and Analysis Menu of DTN's newest Professional and Producer products. DTN Top Stories is also on the home page and news home page of online.dtn.com.

If you have questions for DTN Washington Insider, please email edit@telventdtn.com

(GH/CZ)

Copyright 2014 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.