South Korea president visits | Energy week at White House | China, Mexico talk trade | Immigration bills | Farm bill battle begins | NAFTA 2.0 | Livestock disaster aid | Infrastructure spending cuts | Pesticide registration
Action continues in Washington despite a Senate GOP leadership pullback of its health-care reform measure.
— Trump to meet with South Korea president... President Donald Trump will host South Korean President Moon Jae-In this morning. Their discussion is expected to center around trade issues (autos and steel) and North Korea. On trade, the key issues are the bilateral trade imbalance and market access barriers. On North Korea: The leaders will “coordinate on North Korea-related issues, including countering the growing North Korean nuclear and missile threats,” per a statement. In comments Wednesday, South Korea’s leader talked up the benefits of trade between his country and the U.S. and even urged U.S. businessmen to begin planning for the day when they can do business in North Korea. I a speech Wednesday night at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Moon noted that trade between the two countries has grown by 12% over the past five years, even though overall global trade has fallen by 12% over the same period. He also expressed hope his visit would “elevate our bilateral economic partnership to the next level.
— Trump to give speech about ‘energy dominance’... After meeting with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry — who will host an American Energy Dominance Panel at the Energy Department with labor and industry groups, President Trump will then give comments in the afternoon about the energy sector, a continuation of “Energy Week” activities.
— China is open to negotiating a free-trade agreement with Mexico... The official Xinhua news agency reported today that Qiu Xiaoqi, China’s ambassador to Mexico, said China was willing to discuss a free-trade agreement, although no discussions had been held so far, Xinhua said. Qiu was speaking at an academic event in Mexico City. “If we negotiate a free-trade agreement, this will greatly favor trade exchanges between our two countries. There is no difficulty from China’s side,” he said. Mexico is China’s second-largest trading partner in Latin America and China is Mexico’s second-largest trading partner in the world.
— House to vote on two immigration bills... House members will consider a bill (HR 3003) that aims to force state and local jurisdictions to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The House also will consider a bill (HR 3004) that would heighten penalties for convicted criminals who reenter the U.S. Illegally. Meanwhile, there are 13 legislative days to go in the House and 16 in the Senate until the August recess.
— Farm bill battle begins as conservative group takes aim at House Ag panel leader... On Wednesday, Heritage Action publicly blamed House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) for holding up the budget resolution process — and by extension, tax reform — over his refusal to accept significant mandatory cuts to agriculture and nutrition programs. Conaway responded by labeling the accusation “absurd.” “With the farm economy in one of the biggest slides since the Great Depression, the chairman has been advocating for a budget that won’t exacerbate the conditions of our farmers and ranchers in rural America and that won’t impede development of the next farm bill,” said Rachel Millard, a spokeswoman for the committee. “That may not fit with Heritage Action’s long-running campaign against America’s farmers and ranchers, but it certainly isn’t the reason we still don’t have a budget. House Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black (R-Tenn.) continues to talk with Conaway on the matter, with both saying they are working on reaching an agreement.
— Farm-state senators give united message at NAFTA 2.0 hearings... A group of senators led by Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) made it clear that new NAFTA negotiations should do no harm to farm exports via NAFTA. “As senators representing states with significant agricultural exports, we appreciate the careful approach the administration is taking to strengthen the NAFTA agreement, while ensuring that no changes are made that could result in harm to U.S. agriculture,” the 17 lawmakers wrote in the letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Canada and Mexico have been two of the top five destinations for U.S. agricultural exports since NAFTA was signed in 1993, taking in more than a quarter of the value of what the U.S. ships out, the senators noted in the letter. “Given the significance of agricultural products in U.S. exports, we request that you avoid any revisions to NAFTA and other previously negotiated trade agreements that would diminish the opportunities for U.S. farmers and ranchers to export their products, particularly given the current depressed state of the agriculture economy,” they wrote. Link to letter.
— Thune to introduce bill today to update livestock disaster aid programs... Senate Agriculture Committee member John Thune (R-S.D.) will introduce a bill today to make improvements to the livestock disaster programs in the farm bill. The legislation would speed up assistance to farmers under the Livestock Forage Program and increase the approval rate for Livestock Indemnity Payments for weather-related deaths.
— GOP senator takes on Trump infrastructure spending cuts... Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said President Donald Trump has bragged about infrastructure investment while seeking to cut funds for agencies that fix aging locks, dams and other water projects. Lamar, chairman of Senate Appropriations Energy-Water, contrasted Trump’s pledge to reinvest in water infrastructure at a campaign-style rally in Cincinnati earlier this month with his fiscal 2018 proposals for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. At a hearing Wednesday, administration officials tried to explain why more than $1 billion — 17% — was cut from the Army Corps compared to levels in the fiscal 2017 omnibus. The Bureau of Reclamation would also face a cut of approximately 13% compared to fiscal 2017 annualized continuing resolution levels. Alexander pointed to the Army Corps cut as one that “won’t help the president achieve his own goals.” Alexander also criticized the administration for proposing to boost a user fee on barge owners to raise some $1 billion over a decade, and yet proposed to spend roughly one-fourth of the fees collected.
— Labor union leaders weigh in on NAFTA renegotiation. Labor union advocates on Wednesday urged the U.S. trade officials to consider a series of measures aimed at promoting growth of U.S. jobs and wages. The Trump administration is fielding comments during 90-day period prior to renegotiation of NAFTA. Union lobbyists demanded elimination of a NAFTA provision allowing long-haul Mexican trucks to operate in the U.S. The Teamsters are also contesting the provision in the courts, arguing that the trucks are a risk in the U.S. due to failure to meet safety and emission standards, among other issues.
— Pesticide registration bill may alter end date for reauthorization... Lawmakers today will seek to shorten a pesticide registration bill lifespan by half. The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a business meeting to mark up the Pesticide Registration Enhancement Act (PREA) of 2017 (HR 1029) and vote on an amendment to shorten the authorization period to three years. The amendment would change the end date for the reauthorization from 2023 to 2020. PREA would renew the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to collect fees from pesticide makers to register the products and to approve their use around humans and in the environment. The bill would increase by almost 12% the amount of money the agency can raise to maintain existing registrations. These fees fund between 20% and 40% of the Office of Pesticide Programs’ budget. The bill also would set aside up to $1 million for farmworker safety training. The latest version of the law expires Sept. 30. Besides the 12% fee increase for existing registrations, the bill would instate two scheduled 5% fee increases — one in 2019 and the second in 2021 for product-registration service fees. The measure also would provide a $500,000 set-aside to combat bedbugs and crawling and flying insects, and require the EPA to track changes to product labels that are triggered by a safety review. The legislation passed the House March 20 and is expected to clear the Senate Agricultural Committee. The amended bill would return the bill to the House for a vote.
