Issue Update: March 9, 2016

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It’s time to catch up quickly on some issues. In brief, learn to say mandatory disclosure when it comes to GMO food products. USDA Sec. Tom Vilsack says he likes the Senate’s child nutrition reauthorization bill. And there are already comments being made by Vilsack about the 2020 dietary guidelines. Meanwhile, mark March 29 down as the date for updated CBO spending and revenue projections. And, Bernie Sanders’ win in Michigan is another setback for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Lastly, Vilsack said USDA is organizing a conference to address land tenure, workforce and climate issues.

— Don’t say mandatory GMO food labeling, say mandatory disclosure. That is what some Washington sources say is the correct way to phrase what will likely be in the final Senate bill. Bipartisan talks are continuing with panel Democrats, with Senate Ag Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) meeting today with panel ranking member Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

— Child nutrition reauthorization bill. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack told an audience at the Bipartisan Policy Center the Senate Agriculture Committee-passed child nutrition reauthorization draft bill “is a pretty good package” that would expand summer feeding programs for poor children and maintain school meal nutrition standards.

— A slice of pizza, please? Former USDA Secretary Dan Glickman said at a Bipartisan Policy Center conference that when he was a Democratic Kansas House member he got pizza served in school cafeterias to help a national pizza chain based in his district. Glickman cited the pizza example as one factor that might account for push back from some lawmakers and food companies on school meal standards that drop some items.

— 2020 dietary guidelines. USDA Tom Vilsack said his department is laying the groundwork for expanding the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans to cover children from birth to 24 months old and to include specific nutrition guidance for pregnant women. Vilsack said that USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy is currently developing nutrition guidelines. He also said there will eventually be pressure to develop guidelines for people with different conditions or diseases, such as diabetes, because there is no “normal person.”

— The Congressional Budget Office will release its updated spending and revenue projections, or baseline, on March 24 and its analysis of President Obama’s Fiscal 2017 budget on March 29.

—TPP dealt a setback with Bernie Sanders win in Michigan. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) upset win versus his presidential nominee challenger Hillary Clinton was in large part because he used Clinton’s prior support of trade agreements against her in a state wary of such accords. This will increase the already high odds that Congress will not take up the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement until after Nov. 8 elections, and perhaps not until 2017. Sanders’ Michigan win will likely net him about 10 more delegates than Clinton, while she won all but one of Mississippi’s 29 delegates. Even with the Michigan loss, Clinton ended the day with a wider delegate lead than at the day’s start.

— Vilsack says his successors will need to be prepared for significant changes in land ownership. “If you look at the age of the farm owners and land owners in this country, you know that there’s going to be a significant generational change. Are we prepared for it? Do we know the consequences of that transfer? Do we know what values those folks that will be owning land in the future will have?” Vilsack said USDA is organizing a conference to address land tenure, workforce and climate issues. “Major issues that we are in the process now of just beginning to deal with that I think future administrations and future farm bills will have to address in a very significant way.”

NOTE: This column is copyrighted material; therefore reproduction or retransmission is prohibited under U.S. copyright laws.