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Ag-related issues await Congress

Several agriculture-related issues await members of Congress this week as they return from their summer break.

Among them is an effort to stop implementation of the EPA’s Clean Water Rule, also known as Waters of the U.S. Farm-state lawmakers are trying to attach language blocking the water rule to a fiscal year 2016 spending bill or perhaps some other piece of legislation. The rule is currently in effect in all but 13 states that have been granted a temporary injunction by a North Dakota judge.

Also on deck is the potential Senate repeal of country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for U.S. meat. Some senators want to replace mandatory COOL with a voluntary labeling program. Others are pushing for full repeal of the COOL law.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a co-sponsor of the voluntary labeling legislation, says Canada, with the help of some U.S. meat packers, is trying to force Congress to repeal the law.

“I think it’s a case of Canada working together with meat processors in the U.S. to see if they can ballyhoo us into outright repeal,” Grassley says, “because some packers don’t want other meat processors to have a voluntary way of labeling meat made in America.”

The WTO will meet on September 15th and 16th to decide whether three billion dollars in retaliatory tariffs by Canada and Mexico are justified. Grassley says the outcome of that meeting will dictate future action on COOL in Congress.

Other ag-related items on the agenda include the Senate bill to preempt state and local GMO food labeling laws; reauthorization of child nutrition programs; and consideration of a long-term highway and transportation bill.

AUDIO: Excerpt from Grassley conference call with ag media 9/8/15