June 1, 2023

Debt Ceiling Deal Passes in the House

Wednesday evening, the House successfully passed a debt ceiling increase in a 314-117 vote. While the margin for passage was quite high, the end results relied heavily on the political center and “moderates” from both parties. More Democrats actually voted for it than Republicans (165 vs. 149)—with 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats voting against it. The Freedom Caucus, a collection of more conservative House members, lambasted the deal since its release several days beforehand, and nearly successfully stopped the bill during one of its earlier procedural votes. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave the go-ahead to House Dems to change their votes after their initial casts in order to help keep the legislation on track.

The bill includes a debt increase up through January 2025. It also imposes new work requirements for older Americans on food assistance programs, claws back certain unspent COVID-19 pandemic support funds, slightly increases defense spending, and freezes existing spending elsewhere for the next two years. It also will end the student loan repayment freeze and expedite certain energy and conservation projects by speeding up mandatory National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews (in certain cases). The CBO estimated it would cut federal spending by around $1.5 trillion over the next decade.

The legislation now heads to the Senate, where it is not guaranteed to pass smoothly. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has reiterated that he does not want to try to do a final vote last-minute—and also wants to avoid any significant amendments to the legislation, which would force a conference committee and delay it even further. It remains to be seen whether certain Senators will ignore this though and try to add more procedural hurdles by forcing controversial amendment votes.

The deadline for being signed by the president is now expected to be June 4^th (Sunday), but most Senators would be happy to see it completed by tomorrow. Provided Congress manages to do just that—one additional story worth monitoring will be any potential shakeup with Republican leadership in the House. Complaints against Speaker McCarthy’s handling of the debt deal have resulted in several GOP critics suggesting he broke commitments made earlier this year in order to secure the Speakership. Some have gone as far as to say this is enough to call for what would effectively be a ‘vote of confidence.’ We will continue to update members as both stories develop.  

USDA to Host Prevented Planning Listening Sessions in CA

Last week, the USDA’s Risk Management Agency announced that they would be hosting several listening sessions later this summer on prevented planting (PP), two of which will be in California. The first will be June 27^th (at 2:00 p.m.) in Tulelake and the second will be June 28^th (at 1:00 p.m.) in Davis. We will be sure to share more details on the event space as those become available. Several areas they are looking for feedback on include: the “1 in 4” requirement for previous crop years, PP coverage on contracted crops, premiums, causes of loss, and a number of other issues. CAFB will be looking to solicit member feedback and attend these sessions in order to help provide industry feedback. For more, see the press release below.

Senate Judiciary Committee Discusses Agricultural Labor

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled, “From Farm to Table: Immigrant Workers Get the Job Done.” The hearing was intended to highlight not just the challenges workers face in this industry—but employers as well. Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) noted that farmers and ranchers continue to struggle to find enough workers to handle the existing demands within the industry and called on Congress to move forward with finding credible solutions. Unfortunately, a credible bipartisan solution has not developed yet in this Congress. CAFB and many other organizations supported the Farm Workforce Modernization Act in previous years, which we believe would help address these challenges head on. However, the legislation remains unlikely to find a successful path forward this year or next given the current makeup of both chambers, although CAFB and other groups continue to work behind the scenes to build up consensus on the Hill.