Dear Friend,
Since taking office, President Obama has worked tirelessly and with inspired leadership to begin repairing our nation's broken economy. Families all across the country are struggling and immediate action needed to be taken. I am pleased that the President and Congress were able to work together to begin to address this issue with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This legislation will create jobs, stimulate the economy, and move our country forward. I am especially pleased that this bill makes critical investments in rural development, agriculture, nutrition, infrastructure, conservation and renewable energy. What's more, in his first speech to a joint Congress, President Obama called for increased investments in renewable energy. And he submitted a budget outline to Congress that invests in these new initiatives along with education and health care initiatives beneficial to rural communities. This is good news for Iowa's farming families, in rural America and everyone involved with agriculture.
Please keep reading to learn more.
Tom
In this edition:
- Economic Recovery Package Contains Crucial Funding for Rural Development, Nutrition and Conservation, says Harkin
- Harkin Welcomes President's Call for Increased Investments in Renewable Energy
- President Obama's Budget for Agriculture Makes Tough Choices, Wise Investments; Says Harkin
- USDA Offers Recommendations to Improve Country of Origin Labeling
- Senate Agriculture Committee Examines Food Safety Oversight in the Wake of Peanut Products Recall
- Harkin Meets With Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
- Kathleen Merrigan Chosen for Deputy Secretary of Agriculture
- Senate Agriculture Committee Explores Nomination of Gary Gensler to the CFTC
Economic Recovery Package Contains Crucial Funding for Rural Development, Nutrition and Conservation, says Harkin
The economic recovery package that recently passed Congress and was signed by President Obama contains key provisions that will direct crucial funding toward rural development, nutrition and conservation initiatives, adding to progress in the new the farm bill. Senator Harkin is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, which played a key role in crafting the farm bill and a senior member of the appropriations committee.
"The economic downturn has cut across all sectors of our country, further straining the rural and agriculture economies and increasing food insecurity," said Harkin. "This bill sends urgently needed aid to these targeted communities, and it comes in the form of grants and loans and services like broadband. At the same time, it creates jobs and puts food into the hands of those who need it most – one of the best economic stimulators."
Rural Development Highlights
"From increasing loans to rural businesses to ensuring broadband coverage, this economic recovery package connects rural America with the services residents need, while also creating jobs," said Harkin.
Broadband: $2.5 billion for grants, loans and guarantees through the Rural Utility Service, to provide improved broadband availability in rural areas.
Rural Water and Waste Disposal Loans and Grants: $1.38 billion to support $968 million in grants and $2.8 billion in loans to eliminate the approved application backlog.
National Agricultural Research Service Building Improvements: $176 million in funding to address the deferred maintenance of the ARS's aging laboratory and research infrastructure. Funding from this provision could be used to address the over $20 million in improvements needed at the National Animal Disease Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
Rural Housing Assistance: $200 million to support $11.4 billion in direct and guaranteed loans that will provide home ownership opportunities for low to moderate-income families in rural areas.
Rural Community Facility Program: for towns of under 20,000: $130 million to support $1.17 billion in loans and $67 million in grants with an emphasis on day care and elder care facilities, hospitals, health clinics and public safety.
Business & Industry Loan Guarantee Program: $150 million to support $3 billion in guarantees and $20 million in related grants particularly important for businesses facing credit difficulties. These loans and grants will help bolster the existing credit structure to improve, develop, or finance business, industry, and employment to improve the economic climate in rural communities of fewer than 50,000 people.
Food and Nutrition Highlights
"Food insecurity is rising, and this package supports some of our most vulnerable citizens. We know that one of the best economic stimulators is food aid," said Harkin.
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP): $150 million to help supplement the diets of low-income individuals, including elderly people, through foods provided at food banks, community food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters.
Women, Infants and Children Program: $400 million in added funding to help meet the need for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant women, new mothers, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): To help low-income families especially children and seniors obtain food, the bill provides a temporary increase in food assistance benefits provided through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, benefitting 31 million Americans.
"The work to clear debris can be substantial, but this effort puts real money in the pockets of farmers who will spend it locally and will help create well-paying construction jobs in rural areas. The funding has the additional cost benefit of taking land highly susceptible to floods out of crop production. It is also particularly helpful for Iowa producers still reeling from Midwest floods," said Harkin.
Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention: $290 million was provided for this program, with $145 million set aside for the restoration of floodplains. The floodplain easement funding is particularly important to Iowa, which has a large existing and purchase of easements to remove land most vulnerable to flooding from new crop production backlog of easements.
Harkin Welcomes President's Call for Increased Investments in Renewable Energy
In his first speech to a joint session of Congress on February 24, President Obama announced that his budget will invest $15 billion dollars a year to develop technologies like wind and solar power, advanced biofuels, clean coal, and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. Senator Harkin has long been an advocate in the Senate for increased investments in renewable energy sources.
"It was already a new day when President Obama took office and with his first address to Congress we understand how he intends to make it a better day for all Americans," said Harkin. "And that will come from the investments President Obama pledged to make in renewable energy.
"The economic recovery plan signed into law will double this nation's supply of renewable energy in the next three years. I am encouraged that the President intends to go even further, recognizing that renewable energy from homegrown sources – many of which are produced in my home state of Iowa – will not only free our dependence from foreign oil, but also improve energy efficiency and create jobs."
President Obama's Budget for Agriculture Makes Tough Choices, Wise Investments; Says Harkin
On Thursday, February 26, President Obama submitted a blueprint of the federal budget to Congress. The budget invests in nutrition, broadband, renewable energy and assistance to small rural businesses.
"President Obama's budget outline recognizes that in these trying economic times, we need every federal dollar to go where it can do the most good," said Harkin. "In scrubbing the budget, he has focused on reforming large commodity program payments and the direct Freedom to Farm payments. I welcome his engagement on both of these issues, where I have long sought further reform and look forward to further discussion about the details and the practical effect.
"The proposal for increased nutrition funding is a critically needed and justified investment in better diets and nutrition for America's children, which can lead to lifelong better health and wellness. This investment goes hand-in-hand with and is integral to the president's call for health care reform because it is a key prevention strategy.
"On various other proposals, I will have to take a further look at the details as they are unveiled. The savings from crop insurance appear large based on all the analysis and work we did during the farm bill debate on the crop insurance program's budget, premium subsidies to farmers, and compensation to companies and local agents. It is not a good idea to eliminate funding for the Resource Conservation and Development Program because these local councils accomplish valuable work in rural communities across Iowa and the nation."
USDA Offers Recommendations to Improve Country of Origin Labeling
On February 20, Secretary Vilsack announced that the final rule to implement country of origin labeling (COOL) for beef, lamb, pork, goat meat, fish and shellfish, fruits and vegetables, peanuts, macadamia nuts, pecans and ginseng would go into effect as scheduled on March 16. The final rule, originally published by the Bush Administration on January 15, has been under the broad review of federal regulations as required by the Obama Administration on January 20.
Upon review of the final rule, Secretary Vilsack announced that the rule as published by the Bush Administration raised legitimate concerns. Therefore he is urging industry stakeholders to take voluntary steps to strengthen the labeling requirements such as: 1. Processors should voluntarily include information about each production step for each country when multiple countries appear on the label, such as "born in Canada, raised and slaughtered in the United States." 2. Ensure food products that should be labeled are not exempted, such as meat products that are cured, smoked, broiled, grilled or steamed. 3. Reduce the number of days from 60 days to 10 days to correct a label when a meat product from a specific country is no longer in the labeled inventory. For example, if a processor had product from U.S., Canada and Argentina, and product from Canada ran out, the processor would have ten days to correct the label.
USDA in the coming months will be reviewing industry compliance with the voluntary proposals, and depending on this review will consider modifications to the rule.
"I commend USDA for allowing the COOL final rule to move forward and offering recommendations to improve it. USDA will be able to tell in the coming months if the labeling is being done properly to meet consumer expectations, and if not, USDA can offer new regulations and seek public comment on them," said Harkin.
The 2008 farm bill created distinct labeling categories such as: 1. product from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the United States, 2. product from animals from multiple countries, 3. product exclusively from a foreign country, and 4. product imported for immediate slaughter. A labeling category is also created for ground meat, which will require the label to include the names of all countries from which the meat possibly originated. Additionally, COOL-related recordkeeping requirements were clarified and streamlined for the benefit of producers and others in the production chain. Meat from live animals that were in United States on or before July 15, 2008 may be labeled as product of the United States since some producers may not know the origin of livestock that entered the United States before that date.
The final rule as published by the Bush Administration would allow packers and retailers to label all products as originating from multiple countries – such as "product of U.S., Canada, and Mexico" – even when a portion of the product is exclusively from the United States and could be accurately labeled as such without undue burden. It is their shortcoming in the regulation that Secretary Vilsack is urging packers to remedy voluntarily.
Senate Agriculture Committee Examines Food Safety Oversight in the Wake of Peanut Products Recall
The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing on February 5 to examine federal food safety oversight. The hearing came in the wake of the recall of peanuts and peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America, which has been linked to a Salmonella outbreak that has killed eight and sickened 600, including three in Harkin's home state of Iowa. Five witnesses testified for the purpose of exploring what went wrong and what must be changed to prevent future outbreaks.
"To say that food safety in this country is a patchwork system is giving it too much credit," said Harkin. "Food safety in America has too often become a hit-or-miss gamble, and that is truly frightening. When Americans can't count on the safety of basic items that go into our children's lunch boxes, then we are in big trouble."
A few days after the hearing, another Peanut Corporation of America plant was closed after Salmonella was detected at the facility. Previous media reports have shown that this plant may have gone four years without a food safety inspection, a fact confirmed by FDA officials last week.
"Hundreds of people sickened and in the worst cases, lives lost – all because of a food-borne illness. We've been here before, and we cannot afford to be here again," said Harkin. "This inspection system does not work. Our committee heard firsthand of the lapses last week and now we are seeing the results of food processing facilities that go uninspected.
"Before another American gets sick, before another child eats a peanut product that may be contaminated, Congress must get to the heart of this matter," Harkin concluded. "I urge the FDA to release the records on state contracts immediately."
The full text of the letter can be found here.
Harkin Meets With Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
On February 13, Senator Harkin met with newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to discuss upcoming child nutrition legislation and other agriculture priorities for the new Congress. This year, the Senate Agriculture Committee will reauthorize federal child nutrition programs. This reauthorization impacts programs crucial to ensuring that America's children have access to healthy and nutritious meals.
"I was pleased to be able to sit down with Secretary Vilsack to discuss issues critical to Iowa and our country," said Harkin. "As the Senate begins the important process of reauthorizing our federal nutrition programs, I am delighted that Secretary Vilsack shares my priority of improving the health and wellness of children in Iowa and across the country. Child nutrition legislation is a tremendous opportunity to make sure the food America's children consume at school is more nutritious, properly balanced and healthful. A serious effort at health reform this year needs to put prevention front and center and a strong, forward-looking child nutrition bill is a key part of that effort."
Kathleen Merrigan Chosen for Deputy Secretary of Agriculture
On February 23, President Obama chose Kathleen Merrigan for the number two position at USDA. She is currently an assistant professor at Tufts and was head of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service under President Clinton. If Merrigan is confirmed, she will be deputy to former Iowa Governor and current Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Senator Harkin chairs the Committee that will hold the nomination hearing.
"As a former USDA official, Kathleen Merrigan brings a sound policy background to the job," said Harkin. "She has demonstrated a commitment to the needs of agriculture and rural communities, promoting sound conservation and the benefits of healthy foods and good nutrition. I wish her the best as the nomination process moves forward."
Senate Agriculture Committee Explores Nomination of Gary Gensler to the CFTC
On February 25, The Senate Agriculture Committee conducted a hearing to review the nomination of Gary Gensler to serve as the Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC is responsible for regulating options and futures trading for commodities such as agricultural products, oil, and financial instruments. Gensler previously served as Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets and as Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the Department of Treasury.
Sen. Harkin questioned Gensler specifically and extensively about his views and approach on regulation of financial institutions which have been strongly implicated in the current financial sector collapse but are presently excluded from regulation by the CFTC; Harkin also raised concerns about CFTC authority and actions to address excessive regulation in commodity markets.
"Mr. Gensler's nomination comes at a very challenging time," said Harkin. "And though I have concerns about his previously expressed views and action against regulation, Mr. Gensler was forthright in his responses to the Committee and I see no reason to hold up his nomination."
