Latest news with #HouseCommitteeonAgriculture
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Two U.S. reps to headline speaker slate at Johnstown's Showcase for Commerce defense, business expo
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Two congressmen will headline the list of participants in the 34th annual Showcase for Commerce business and defense contracting exposition this upcoming week in Johnstown. Chief Deputy Whip U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Washington, whose 14th Congressional District includes Somerset County, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address during the John P. Murtha Breakfast Friday. House Committee on Agriculture Chairman U.S. Rep. Glenn 'G.T.' Thompson, R-Centre, will address the Government Acquisition Leaders Briefings Thursday. Both events are set to take place inside the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center in downtown Johnstown. 'We have a couple really good keynote addresses planned,' said Linda Thomson, president and CEO of Johnstown Area Regional Industries, which co-hosts Showcase for Commerce with the Cambria Regional Chamber. The U.S. Department of Defense's usual presence will be missing from Showcase. 'We have really relied on industry speakers this year because a lot of the government personnel that we would normally invite are not able to travel,' Showcase for Commerce Chairman Ed Sheehan Jr. said. 'They have travel restrictions in place right now that preclude them from attending these kinds of events, and so we've relied heavily on industry. 'It should be very interesting and more of an industry perspective on things like advanced manufacturing and machine learning and artificial intelligence, an industry perspective on cybersecurity and then also workforce development.' This will be the first Showcase without former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. since he started serving as the event's congressional sponsor in 2013. The Democrat is no longer in the Senate, having lost last year to then-challenger and now-U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa. Neither McCormick nor U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is expected to attend Showcase this year, but both have offered 'a lot of support,' according to Thomson. A highlight of the event will once again be the opening reception from 4 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday inside 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial downtown. 'The thing we're really excited about this year is that we are sold out as far as the booths (for the opening reception) and we have 13 new participants this year that are having booths, so we feel really good about that,' Cambria Regional Chamber President and CEO Amy Bradley said. 'I think the Showcase continues to evolve, and it's just nice to see new booths wanting to participate and to have such good turnout.' Showcase will begin Wednesday with networking activities, including a golf outing and receptions. Supplier briefings and the government contracting series are scheduled for Thursday. The expo will conclude Friday with a press conference and public exhibition.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Nebraska banning soda, energy drinks from SNAP under first federal waiver
Nebraska has received the first federal waiver to ban soda and energy drinks from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. The move is set to take effect on Jan. 1 as a part of a broader effort to restrict taxpayer dollars from contributing to the purchase of sugary drinks and junk food under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 'SNAP is about helping families in need get healthy food into their diets, but there's nothing nutritious about the junk we're removing with today's waiver,' Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) said in a Monday press release. Governors in Iowa, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, West Virginia and Colorado are also considering similar changes to SNAP benefits. Program funds are supplied by the USDA and administered individually by states. Recipients right now are able to buy anything except alcohol, tobacco and hot foods. Researchers have long argued that SNAP restrictions are unlikely to change eating patterns, and that it will be costly for the federal government to track 650,000 food and beverage products on the market and 20,000 new products introduced annually, according to economic policy researcher Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach's 2017 testimony before the House Committee on Agriculture. 'The complexity is multiplied because there is no clear standard for defining foods as 'healthy' or 'unhealthy,' or as luxury goods. Creating such standards would be difficult at best, and would entail substantial administrative costs to categorize and track the nutritional profile of each good to produce a SNAP-eligible foods list,' she told lawmakers. 'The list would have to be maintained continuously and communicated to retailers and consumers in real time.' However, Trump administration officials say Nebraska's new initiative falls in line with the 'Make America Healthy Again' agenda of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has largely focused on eliminating disease through food consumption since his confirmation. 'The one place that I would say that we need to really change policy is the SNAP program and food stamps and in school lunches,' Kennedy said in February on Fox News's 'The Ingraham Angle.' 'There, the federal government in many cases is paying for it. And we shouldn't be subsidizing people to eat poison,' he added. Prediabetes now affects 1 in 3 children aged 12-19, while 40 percent of school-aged children and adolescents have at least one chronic condition, according to the USDA. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Epoch Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
House Republicans Propose Spending Cuts to SNAP Food Program
WASHINGTON—The House Committee on Agriculture on May 12 released a proposed bill intending to cut more than $230 billion of public spending over 10 years, including major cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The committee's draft legislation would make eligibility requirements stricter and require states to share a greater burden of the cost. The committee estimated savings of $290 billion from the legislation. Republicans have long criticized the program—arguing that it disincentivizes people from seeking higher-income employment, which might end their eligibility—and have sought to alter it by imposing 'work requirements,' among other reforms. 'For far too long, the SNAP program has drifted from a bridge to support American households in need to a permanent destination riddled with bureaucratic inefficiencies, misplaced incentives, and limited accountability,' the committee's chairman, Rep. Glenn Thompson Jr. (R-Pa.), said in a statement accompanying the bill. He added that the legislation would be 'encouraging work, cracking down on loopholes exploited by states, and protecting taxpayer dollars.' Related Stories 5/7/2025 5/6/2025 The proposal released by the committee forms part of a sweeping policy bill to implement President Donald Trump's agenda. The panel was instructed to find $230 billion in cuts to offset spending in other parts of the bill. Work requirements for SNAP are also set to become more stringent under the proposal. The legislation would prevent 'able-bodied adults without dependents' from receiving waivers for SNAP benefits, by broadening the age range for work requirements and limiting waivers to 'caregivers of children under 7.' 'Despite a time limit and work requirement enshrined in law for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) on SNAP, only 28 percent of these individuals have earned income from work,' the committee wrote in an explanation of the changes. 'These are able-bodied Americans that we need to work, especially when there are more than seven million open jobs across the country ... Congress must act to restore integrity to work requirements in SNAP.' Other reforms to the program include limits on increasing SNAP benefits beyond inflation, abolishing an anti-obesity education program for beneficiaries, and limiting eligibility to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, which would prevent illegal immigrants from claiming benefits. Democrats on the committee have criticized the legislation. 'Slashing $230 billion from SNAP will take food away from seniors, children, veterans and people with disabilities when costs are already too high. These cuts also drive a stake into the heart of the farm economy,' Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) said in a statement before the bill was released. 'A cut of this size would take $30 billion in revenue away from family farmers who grow our food.' Craig is the committee's ranking member and is running for U.S. Senate in 2026. Even if the legislation is enacted this year, the reforms would take effect over time, which means that SNAP beneficiaries would not be immediately affected. The new state cost-sharing, for instance, would take effect in fiscal year 2028, and many provisions would require the Department of Agriculture to promulgate new regulations that could take several years to finalize.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Advocates, scientists ask lawmakers for $1 million to stop toxic algal blooms on Willamette River
A large green algal bloom covers the Ross Island Lagoon on the Willamette River in August 2021. (Photo courtesy of the Human Access Project) Just about every summer in recent years, a stretch of the Willamette River south of downtown Portland at Ross Island turns green from a thick layer of toxin-producing algae that grows rapidly in the hot and stagnant waters of the Ross Island Lagoon. As the thick algal blooms are carried out by winds and tides to the mainstem of the river, it can become, for days on end, unhealthy for humans, pets and aquatic life. There's an easy fix that's been years in the making, according to Willie Levenson, founder of the Portland-based nonprofit Human Access Project. Standing in the way is the last $1 million he and river engineers at Oregon State University need to finish designing it. House Bill 3314, sponsored by state Reps. Rob Nosse and Mark Gamba, Democrats from Portland and Milwuakie, would direct about $1 million to Oregon State University to finish designing a channel that would cut through Ross Island. The channel would restore the river's natural flow through what were multiple islands a century ago and flush out harmful cyanobacteria and algae forming in the lagoon. The bill will have its first public hearing Wednesday morning at the House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources and Water. 'This is a small investment that will solve a significant problem,' Levenson said. The Human Access Project, which aims to get people in closer contact with the river, has been working with Oregon State University scientists to collect data and determine solutions for six years. Levenson spent about two years fundraising about $500,000 through grants from nonprofits and local tribal governments, enough for the first 30% of the planning process. The rest of the plan hinges on getting money from the Legislature. 'We're concerned that without the money to finish the planning soon, the momentum to do this will stall out,' Levenson said. Ross Island used to be one of a complex of four islands. In the 1920s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moved the earth on two of the islands around to create an embankment connecting them to divert water and make a deeper shipping channel in the river, as well as to make it more accessible to industry. The two islands combined created the U-shaped Ross Island, but the new embankment stopped the natural flow of the river between the islands and the lagoon became a '140-acre pond inside a river,' according to Levenson. In 1926, the Ross Island Sand and Gravel Co. established itself on the island and started excavating millions of tons of gravel from the river to make cement, creating a large hole in the river until 2001. The combination of the gravel excavation, the man-made lagoon around it, hot summers and pollution from nearby cities has led to the perfect conditions for cyanobacteria and algal blooms to grow in the area. By cutting through the embankment that the Army Corps built in 1926 and letting the river flow between the islands again, the bacteria and algae will be flushed out of the area, Oregon State Scientists found. Once planning is finished in the next two years, Levenson said he and Oregon State will seek up to $8 million to carry it out. He said there are a few different funding streams they'll pursue, including potentially asking the Legislature to foot some of the bill. The Ross Island Sand and Gravel Co. though no longer operational, is under orders from the Department of State Lands to undertake reclamation work to refill the hole the company left in the river from decades of excavation. As part of that, it's possible the company could offer to pay for some of the channeling work. Randall Steed, general manager of the company, did not respond to a call or email requesting comment. Officials in charge of the billion-dollar Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, made up of revenue from a 1% tax on large retail businesses in the city, declined to fund project planning and implementation because it was not reducing carbon dioxide emissions, according to Levenson. Annual algal blooms are not just an environmental and public health issue, he said, but an economic issue that will drive people, events and businesses away from Portland in the summer. 'If the Willamette keeps turning green every summer, it will be an anchor around the neck of downtown's recovery,' Levenson said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers renew effort to update farm bill, ease ‘economic crisis' in farm country
A farmer tills a harvested corn field in late October near Boone. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Congress has failed to reauthorize the massive piece of bipartisan legislation, known as the Farm Bill, the past two sessions. The House committee tasked with drafting the legislation began the process anew this week, with members citing a 'crisis' in the farm economy that could be alleviated with swift action. 'America's producers are the ones paying the price,' Rep. Glenn 'GT' Thompson, R-Pennsylvania, chair of the House Committee on Agriculture said to his committee members. 'We cannot let this year be a repeat of the last.' The Farm Bill, which controls most food and farm related spending by the federal government, including crop insurance and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, was last authorized in 2018. It initially expired in 2023 but Congress extended the deadline that year and again in December when it failed to reach an agreement on the legislation. The latest farm income report from U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts a nearly 30% increase in net farm income for 2025, which would be a welcome sight for many farmers after two years of declining net farm income. The increase, however mostly reflects the more than $30 billion in a disaster aid allocated by Congress at the end of 2024. Ad hoc payments like this have been propping up farmers in lieu of an updated farm bill that could adjust crop insurance rates, labor costs and expand crop markets. John Newton, the executive head at Terrain, a group that analyzes agricultural economic issues for farm credit associations, appeared before the House Committee on Agriculture as a witness Tuesday and spoke to the 'historic volatility' in the farm economy over the past several years. Newton said farmers want a farm bill that accounts for some of the 'unprecedented' economic challenges they face, rather than the ad hoc bailouts Congress has authorized to make ends meet. 'These economic assistance payments offset only a portion of a farmer's negative margins and are only a bridge until a new five-year farm bill can be authorized by Congress,' Newton said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, said the disaster assistance farmers in Iowa, and other parts of the country, received at the end of 2024 helped farmers 'get back on their feet' but is not the solution. 'It's been seven years since Congress passed a Farm Bill,' Nunn said. 'Seven years since our farm safety net was updated … We have to have a long-term strategy here to address America's food security that starts right here in the United States.' Ryan Talley, a fruit and vegetable farmer from California and representative of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, said input costs are rising at an 'alarming rate,' with labor comprising half of his production costs. Talley said in 2016 the H-2A visa program, which allows farms to hire temporary farm workers from other countries, saved his farm during a labor shortage. But he said the cost for that labor has increased nearly 40% since then and the 'escalating wages' could 'spell the demise' of his farm. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, H-2A wages ranged from $15 to $22 per hour, depending on the state, in 2024. USDA projections for 2025 predict farm labor cost will continue to increase to 'a record high' of more than $53 billion across U.S. farm sectors. Talley asked lawmakers to include assistance for mechanical advancements to enhance the human labor on specialty crop farms. Talley also advocated for changes to the crop insurance program to provide specialty crop growers 'with a functional safety net for the very first time.' 'The dietary guidelines for Americans recommend that fruits and vegetables should comprise at least half of Americans' diet,' Talley said. 'Yet under current law, specialty crops receive a small fraction of their proportional share of the Farm Bill resources.' Rodney Weinzierl, an Illinois row crop farmer and executive director of Illinois Corn Growers Association, said the lack of demand for corn and soybeans in particular is driving the downturn. USDA data for crop cash receipts show a more than $12 billion decrease for corn and about $9 billion decrease for soybeans from 2023 to 2024 and project continued declines for the crops in 2025. Weinzierl said more demand for biofuels in the U.S. would 'drastically impact the profitability' of row crop farmers. This is something Iowa farm commodity and renewable fuel groups have also urged Congress to facilitate through the year round sale of E15, a fuel blend with a higher percentage of ethanol. Panelists noted input costs like seed, fertilizer and machinery have increased substantially in recent years and stayed high. USDA data shows nominal farm production expenses have risen sharply since 2020, but fertilizer and pesticide expenses have been declining in price since 2022 and are expected to follow the same trend in 2025. Seed, labor and poultry and livestock purchase expenses, however, are expected to rise again in 2025. Last year, House Republicans pushed for additional work requirements for the SNAP eligibility, a program which makes up a significant portion of the Farm Bill, and are expected to push for a similar policy this year. Politico reporting from Wednesday on the House Republican's budget plans revealed GOP lawmakers want the ag committee to cut $230 billion from its programs. The reporting said the food assistance program would be a target. The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report Wednesday that found the USDA violated its reporting obligations for the SNAP program in October 2023. Kailee Buller, chief of staff of USDA, said the former administration put 'politics over commonsense' in the change of practice. 'The Trump Administration will immediately correct this egregious action, making certain material weaknesses like this do not happen again.' Thompson called the action an 'abuse of taxpayer resources.' 'We will not let this go unchecked—we will ensure accountability and put an end to these partisan budget games,' Thomson said in a press release with the House Committee on Agriculture. Ranking member of the committee Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota, said Tuesday she was concerned by discussions from the Trump administration to make cuts to the SNAP program. 'I believe this new administration's early actions are implementing early policies that could potentially hurt our family farmers and ranchers,' Craig said. Craig said she was also concerned by the president's reductions to the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, which she said is a $2 billion market for U.S. farmers who grow food for the program. Alisha Schwertner, a farmer and rancher from Texas, spoke to the committee and said her farm, like many others, 'will not endure' the current economic conditions. 'We risk losing everything that we and past generations have worked so hard for,' Schwertner said. 'This includes the ability to pass on our legacy and profession to the next generation.' Rep. Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Iowa, said he's also concerned for the next generation of farmers, and wanted to repeal the 'death tax' or the federal tax on inherited property. Feenstra called the 40% tax on the transfer of land 'ridiculous' and why he wants to repeal the tax with a bill that 'has got to get done.' Feenstra said the farm bill presents a 'great opportunity' to change the trajectory of what's happening in farm country. President Donald Trump's freeze on funding related to the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act left farmers 'on the hook' for millions of dollars they had been previously promised, according to a Washington Post article from Monday. Ranking member of the committee Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota, said she was concerned for the impact the freezes would have on farmers and 'good programs' with USDA. Schwertner said she has money tied up with USDA currently, but has 'never not been paid' for the programs she has participated in. 'I'm confident that President Trump — he's said that he would take care of farmers and ranchers, and he's held true to that promise in the past, and I'm certain that we will get paid regardless of the current freeze,' Schwertner said. Last week, President Trump imposed a 25% tariff on inputs from Canada and Mexico. Representatives asked about the impact this would have on potash, a potassium fertilizer. The U.S. imports 80% of the potash it uses from Canada. Weinzierl, said if these tariffs, which have been temporarily paused, go into effect, it likely wouldn't affect farmers this crop season as they would have already applied potash in the fall, or have it stocked for spring application. Rep. Josh Riley, D-New York, said he would lead a letter to the Trump administration, urging them to exclude potash from any tariffs imposed on Canada, and invited fellow committee members to join him on the effort. Representatives from northern states and regions like Oregon and California that grow large quantities of specialty crops were concerned for what a trade war with Canada would mean for their farm families. 'Getting into a tariff and trade war, it could possibly decimate our agricultural community, specifically in California,' Talley said, noting the short shelf life of many specialty crop products. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, said the effects of the current administration have exacerbated the decline of the rural economy and he critiqued his Republican colleagues for standing by the actions of the president toward the ag industry. 'Tariffs against our closest allies and ag trading partners, gutting science programs while bird flu rips through poultry and livestock, freezing money that has been promised to farmers for ongoing projects … these things are not America first,' McGovern said. 'These are policies of people who do not care about rural America at all.' Rep. Mike Bost from Illinois said the problems with agriculture span much longer than the past three weeks. The Republican congressman said ag trade deals 'have not been good.' 'I would hope that this committee would back away from the partisanship and actually come together, pass this farm bill and realize that trade – we should hold accountable those countries we're dealing with and get our trade deals right,' Bost said. Thompson said the committee needs to get a farm bill together 'sooner than later.' 'If we wait until the end of this year to do a five year farm bill, we will be back asking Congress for more economic disaster assistance.' The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, held a similar committee hearing Feb. 5 focused on the agriculture economy. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
