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With help from Jason Huffman, Annie Snider, Ian Kullgren and Catherine Boudreau
THE RIGHT TAKES ON SCHOOL LUNCH: Heritage Action, a hardline conservative political group, has a new target in its sights: the federal school lunch program.
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The group says it has been working with the House Education and the Workforce Committee for several weeks, encouraging its leaders to rework their child nutrition reauthorization bill to be more true to conservative principles. On Tuesday, the committee dropped something of a bombshell by adding language to a substitute amendment that would create a pilot program to test block-granting school meal programs in three states for three years.
The move is widely viewed by many health, hunger and school nutrition leaders as an assault on federal nutrition programs — and a backdoor way to cut funding for school meals down the road. The School Nutrition Association came out forcefully against the bill Tuesday and that opposition is particularly notable because the group has worked with House Republicans to address many of the association's concerns with nutrition standards and other changes the Obama administration has made.
Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action, said some conservatives didn’t think the committee’s draft bill was conservative or “bold” enough, but instead was “tinkering around the edges” and largely locking in Democratic policy. “There’s certainly been chatter among conservatives that the draft didn’t go far enough,” Holler said. The group hasn’t decided yet if it will score lawmakers on the bill, and Holler said they’re waiting to see what happens in markup today. Stay tuned for more on this from Pro Agriculture today.
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BUCKLE UP FOR CNR MARKUP: The child nutrition debate will heat up today when the committee marks up the bill at 11 a.m. Many amendments are expected. The committee, for its part, has defended the legislation and its approach.
“We have been working with numerous organizations— including those representing school leaders, nutrition professionals, and other stakeholders — throughout this process to develop a proposal that will strengthen and improve child nutrition programs,” a committee spokesman said late Tuesday. “The common-sense reforms in our bill will give schools the flexibility and assistance they need to better serve their students healthy meals.” Watch markup here.
The School Nutrition Association has called on its 55,000 members to contact Capitol Hill pronto.They’ve issued an action alert urging members to reach out to their members of Congress and urge opposition to the “reckless proposal.” The action alert is here.
SODA TAX PROPOSED IN ILLINOIS: A bipartisan group of state legislators in Illinois will propose a statewide penny-per ounce tax on sugary drinks, according to press reports from late last night. The measure is estimated to raise $375 million per year. More here.
Albany, Calif., also yesterday approved putting soda tax on the ballot in November for the ballot in November. That proposal, which the city council approved by the ballot in a 4-1 vote, is also a penny per ounce. More here.
SENATE AG APPROPS ADVANCES SPENDING BILL: After a brief markup on Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations agriculture subcommittee approved by voice vote a $21.25 billion spending bill that would fund the USDA and FDA in fiscal 2017, sending it the full committee for review on Thursday. The bill would allocate $2.54 billion to agricultural research, a $70 million increase over current enacted levels, as well as give the FDA a $40.2 million bump to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service would receive an $27.2 million increase for emergency preparedness and response in the event of another bird flu outbreak.
Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) told reporters that senators are working on language designed to ensure convenience stores and small retailers accepting food stamps aren’t pushed out of business by a USDA proposed rule that would require these businesses to stock a wider variety of fresh foods. That provision will likely be in a manager's amendment expected to be adopted during the full committee markup. The House appropriations bill includes a provision largely blocking the rule.
Additional amendments that may be introduced include: language that would bar the USDA from finalizing a recently proposed rule to set new animal welfare standards for organic meat and poultry products unless an independent study verified it wouldn't increase organic food prices or disrupt farming operations. And it’s all but a sure thing that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) will want to ensure GE salmon is labeled.
GMOS GET POSITIVE PRESS: Foods made from genetically engineered crops are as safe to eat as those made from conventional crops, and GMOs generally improve farmers' yields by controlling pests and weeds, the National Research Council said in a report published Tuesday — a document that sparked dozens of positive headlines about biotech amid a contentious debate about labeling. And of course labeling was not left out: NRC concluded mandatory labeling would allow consumers to "make their own personal risk-benefit decisions," while a voluntary approach to labeling would be less helpful.
The agriculture and biotech industry, as well as consumer and environmental advocacy groups, have been awaiting the 408-page report delivered by the 20-member committee of experts under the NRC — the working arm of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine authorized by Congress to provide scientific guidance to the government.
Not all news was positive. For example, in locations where herbicide-resistant crops led to a reliance on the widely used weed killer glyphosate, weeds became resistant and posed a major problem. And while there isn’t conclusive evidence that GMOs cause environmental problems, the complexities in assessing long-term changes make that difficult, which is illustrated by the decline in monarch butterfly populations. Further, the panel says the current U.S. regulatory system isn't equipped to review new approaches to biotechnology and recommended their safety evaluations focus more on the impact of the final product rather than the process by which it’s made. Pros can read more here.
WINS FOR EVERY INTEREST: Pro-GMO labeling groups like the Environmental Working Group and ConsumersUnion lauded the report for affirming the importance of transparency, while also noting the NRC committee’s statement that the technology alone cannot address food security and the wide variety of challenges face farmers, especially smallholders. Meanwhile, groups representing agrochemical companies and agricultural industries, such as the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and American Soybean Association, issued statements saying the report reiterates what world scientific authorities have concluded many times over the years: GMOs are safe and economically benefit farmers.
COUNTDOWN TO VERMONT GMO LABELING LAW: 43 days. Where is that compromise out of the Senate Agriculture Committee? Still radio silence…
EU PESTICIDE FIGHTS PUT U.S. PESTICIDE FIGHTS TO SHAME: The EPA’s review of glyphosate has certainly had a few ups and downs as environmental advocates and farming interests push for the agency to take actions of their liking on the chemical, but those spats are nothing compared to what’s happening in Europe. As MA reported Tuesday, a committee of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive of sorts, was set to vote as early as today on whether to keep glyphosate in use in the EU, part of a regular 15-year review. But in the waning hours before the committee was set to meet for the first of its two-day meeting, France and Germany, key countries for this decision, indicated that they were planning to side against or abstain from the vote, leaving in doubt whether the measure can pass.
So what now? The measure to continue using glyphosate needs a majority of member states and the EU population to pass. If the votes aren’t there, the commission has until June 30, when the current authorization expires, to figure out how to keep the key pesticide in use. More details for Pros here.
MEANWHILE, IN NEBRASKA: Four farmers in the corn-covered central U.S. state sued Monsanto in federal court last week, arguing that glyphosate was a central reason that each contracted non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The suit claims the biotech giant knew of the risks but failed to protect users. More here.
IF ONE IS WHAT ONE EATS, Pro Ag’s Jenny Hopkinson, on loan to the Brussels office, would be some sort of waffle/croissant hybrid — a croiffle, if you will. It’s been a tasty, likely trans-fat-filled few days in the European capital. But Jenny says the plan is to eventually wean off the full-carb diet in time to catch white asparagus, a springtime treat that’s grown under cover to prevent it from turning green, before the vegetable is done for the season. Because really, it’s everywhere. Brush up on your white asparagus here. And some waffle envy is here.
USDA PROVIDES SWEET RELIEF TO FOOD, BEVERAGE COMPANIES: The Agriculture Department on Tuesday raised the amount of cane sugar that can be imported to 500,000 short tons raw value, explaining that the move is needed to keep an adequate supply of the sweetener in an uncertain market for food and beverage makers. That uncertainty is due, in part, to inaction on legislation designed to pre-empt Vermont’s impending mandatory GMO labeling law, and consumer confusion on biotechnology as they demand food produced without genetically engineered crops. Companies have increasingly been sourcing sugar cane, which is conventionally raised, instead of sugar beets, which are mostly GMOs, in response to consumer demand and as a way to potentially avoid labeling.
Of the newly allocated sugar, 300,000 STRV is set aside for already anticipated imports, 140,000 is allocated to countries entitled under the World Trade Organization to a portion of the quota, and 60,000 is provided to Mexico. The latter will have to be approved by the Commerce Department, which oversees the deal governing imports from Mexico that serves as an alternative to trade remedy duties on Mexican sugar.
EPA PROPOSES TOUGHER SULFOXAFLOR STANDARDS: The EPA announced Tuesday that it is proposing an amended registration for the pesticide sulfoxaflor that would better protect bees by allowing fewer uses and making additional requirements. The change follows a September ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the EPA did not adequately support its determination that the pesticide doesn’t harm pollinators. Sulfoxaflor is used on a number of crops, including cotton and sorghum, as it targets “piercing, sucking insects, such as aphids, mealybugs and whiteflies,” the EPA says. It “works against pests that are becoming resistant to carbamate, neonicotinoid, organophosphate and pyrethroid insecticides.” Check out the amended registration proposal here.
SENATE DROUGHT BILL TAKES FIRST STEP — BUT NEXT ONES ARE MURKY: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s new drought measure got its first hearing before a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee subpanel Tuesday, but a busy voting schedule left few lawmakers in the room to offer hints about the measure’s path forward. Feinstein has insisted that her bill is the only one that has a chance at passing the upper chamber, but it is up against tough odds: her fellow California Democrat, Barbara Boxer, has not yet weighed in on the bill, Northern California Democrats staunchly oppose it, and House Republicans have balked at its price tag and argued its operational provisions don’t go far enough. Add to that potential implications for Pacific fisheries that on Tuesday raised worries from Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the subpanel.
Further complicating the picture is a suite of water policies from Western Republicans that could be packaged with Feinstein’s measure in the West-wide water bill Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski has said she intends to do. That bill, led by Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, is strongly opposed by environmental groups and contains a provision relating to the Colorado River opposed by California.
MA’s INSTANT OATS:
— The soda industry failed to stop a San Francisco law mandating warning labels for sugary drink advertisements, the Wall Street Journal reports.
— There is mounting evidence that it’s not only glyphosate that may be dangerous, but also chemicals listed as “inert ingredients” in some formulations of Roundup and other weed killers that have evaded scientific scrutiny, The Intercept reports.
— ICYMI, there is a battle going on between North American lobsters and European lobsters, Smithsonian Magazine reports.
THAT'S ALL FOR MA! See you again soon! In the meantime, drop your host and the rest of the team a line: cboudreau@politico.com and@ceboudreau; jhopkinson@politico.com and @jennyhops;hbottemiller@politico.com and @hbottemiller; mkorade@politico.com and @mjkorade; and jhuffman@politico.com and @jsonhuffman; and Ikullgren@politico.com or @IanKullgren. You can also follow @POLITICOPro and @Morning_Ag on Twitter.
