The mid-terms are history and all eyes now turn to the lame duck session of Congress, the brief period that occurs between the election and the new Congress that will convene in January. Often, not much gets accomplished in lame duck sessions but we at Policy Solutions believe that a lot of miscellaneous legislation will be teed up before the 117th Congress ends on December 22.
So, what is in store now that the mid-term elections are over? The answers may be found amidst a summary of headlines that appeared in the well-respected Politico newspaper just one week after the mid-terms. “Weirdest Election Ever,” “Republicans Cringe as Trump 2024 Approaches,” “Democrats Expect the Return of Gridlock,” and “Democrats Won the Midterms on Roe. Congress is another story.” Unfortunately, the bottom-line points to anticipation of more of the same from the still sharply divided Congress. So, let us move on to look at the critical issues as opposed to the people who will be governing on the Hill.
Lame Duck Issues
On the agenda for debate in December and the upcoming new 118th Congress that will convene in January are a wide variety of issues. They include a major defense bill, additional funding for COVID, clean energy infrastructure issues, child tax credit legislation, a government-spending agreement that must be agreed upon before December 16th, a retirement-savings bill, same-sex marriage legislation, changes in how presidential electoral votes are tallied, etc. For our food industry there are two major issues that will impact future food and agriculture policy which is our forte at Policy Solutions – -the farm bill and the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act. Both issues will be addressed in the next Congress. And other food issues on tap include many of the Biden administration anti-hunger proposals that were announced in October at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health and credit card processing reform which is critically important to the food industry.
Food and Farm Bill Issues in 2023
Since Senate control remains in the Democrats’ corner, we believe it most likely that Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) will again chair the Senate Ag committee. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) is expected to remain the committee’s ranking member. These two senate stalwarts have a good working relationship and this should help with the farm bill negotiations. But with the new House majority flipping to the Republicans, their top member on the House Ag nutrition subcommittee, Representative Don Bacon (R- NE), will have to shepherd major House Ag issues such as crop insurance, research issues, trade promotion authority, and important nutrition debate issues. Partnering with Bacon will be Representative G.T. Thompson (R-PA) who is gearing up to replace Representative David Scott (D-GA) as the House Ag committee chair in January. His main task will be to work alongside Senator Stabenow to finalize the passage of a farm bill in 2023. Republicans are also exploring a range of changes and reforms for federal food assistance programs in the farm bill. For example, Republicans have said that they would like to reinstate and potentially add new work requirements to the federal food assistance program. Democrats are strongly aligned against this proposal.
Aside from work requirements, Republicans will also be addressing the so-called “cliff effect” that occurs when people who use federal assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), no longer qualify for hundreds of dollars of benefits when they earn just $1 (yes – one dollar) or more than the qualifying income threshold. According to Politico, Republicans, including Congressman Bacon, argue the cliff “disincentivizes” some people from transitioning off federal assistance and getting full-time jobs. Bacon explained, “I would like to look at how we can stagger those benefits down and help people to get a full-time job and maybe only lose a small portion of their SNAP. Because if you tell someone, you earn another dollar, you are going to lose $600, that disincentivizes getting that raise or getting that full time job.”
FDA’s Traceability Rule  Is Game Changer
Frank Yiannas, deputy commissioner for food policy and response at FDA said several weeks ago that the “U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken a landmark action that I believe will change the way government and the industry work together to keep food safe and, in so doing, will help saves lives for generations to come.” So, what occurred? On November 15 FDA released the final Food Traceability Rule which I have written about previously. The final rule contains a list of human foods for which additional recordkeeping requirements will apply. This is all big news indeed! Read on.
The final rule establishes additional requirements for those that manufacture, process, pack or hold certain foods, including fresh leafy greens, melons, peppers, sprouts, herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, nut butters, fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, ready-to-eat deli salads, cheeses (other than hard cheese), finfish and crustaceans. The new rule requires those manufacturing, processing, packing or holding foods on the Food Traceability List to maintain key data elements (KDEs) – such as lot numbers and harvest locations – for critical tracking events (CTEs) along with the food continuum and to send required KDEs to the next recipient of the food shipment. The information dots can then be easily connected so that a food can be tracked from farm to retail. In collaboration with the food industry, the FDA will be able to more rapidly and effectively identify the origin and route of travel of certain contaminated foods to prevent or mitigate foodborne illness outbreaks, address credible threats of serious adverse health consequences or death, and minimize overly broad advisories or recalls that implicate unaffected food products.
New SNAP Rule
Congressperson and friend to the food industry Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), along with the USDA, has announced a new rule that will expand flexibilities under the SNAP program for the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, according to a report in Food Safety News.
The new rule will build on the strategy announced at the recent White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health and offer more choice and flexibility to WIC program participants. The rule proposed by USDA would support the purchasing of healthier foods, like fruits and vegetables, by increasing the amount provided and the varieties available for purchase. Congress implemented a significant boost to the benefit provided to WIC participants for purchasing fruits and vegetables under pandemic relief aid packages, and Congresswomen DeLauro has opted to maintain this increase in her government funding bills. Some of the other proposed changes include providing more non-dairy substitution options such as soy-based yogurts and cheeses, and requiring lactose-free milk to be offered; including canned fish in more food care packages; and additional flexibility in the amount of formula provided to partially breastfed infants to support individual breastfeeding goals.
2023 Agricultural Outlook Forum
USDA has announced that registration is open for the 99th annual Agricultural Outlook Forum which is the agency’s largest, premier annual event. The two-day event will be held in-person at the Crystal City Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA February 23-24, 2023. The 2023 forum will feature a keynote address by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a presentation on the 2023 agricultural economy and 30 breakout sessions organized by agencies across USDA and covering a range of timely issues impacting the agriculture and food sector. More than 4,500 people are expected to attend to discuss and learn about current and emerging topics and trends in the food and agriculture sector. For more information and to register, visit www.usda.gov (Agricultural Outlook Forum).
Technology Drives FDA News
Food Safety News reported last month that during the same week that FDA re-affirmed its approval of Atlantic salmon with an intentionally altered genome, the agency announced a policy to permit the growth of chicken from animal cells in laboratories.
FDA announced the completion of the first pre-market consultation for an animal cell-cultured food, based on a safety assessment submitted by UPSIDE Foods, a California firm. This means that the California start-up’s meat products are safe for human consumption thus paving the way for products made from real animal cells (but not requiring that animals be slaughtered for procession) be available in U.S. food stores and restaurants. Currently UPSIDE Foods is a leader among those wanting to harvest cells from animals and then use the cells to grow meat and poultry products in lab settings. You may also recall that FDA and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) in 2019 announced that they would jointly regulate the cell-cultured meat business. Thus, this good news is a major step by FDA and USDA that will open avenues for others to develop and market animal cell-cultured foods. We believe it is a trend worth watching.
Pee Could Save The World
I often like to end my commentary with unique tidbits. Now get this. A French start-up has unveiled a urine-based fertilizer to limit the use of chemicals to make use of valuable nutrients (urine) lost when one flushes the toilet. The company, Toopi Organics, claims their solution has many environmental benefits and is cheaper for farmers. The firm says it does not use urine as a fertilizer but uses it as a growth compound for growing micro-organisms that can be used on crops. Science is truly amazing. Whoever thought that recycling urine could save the world? And don’t ask me how Toppi is going to collect urine. I’d rather not know.
Have a great holiday, my friends, and a Happy New Year!
Barry Scher is associated with the public policy firm of Policy Solutions LLC and can be reached at Bscher@policy-solutions.net.
