The Trump Administration and Republican Congress hit the ground running on day one of being seated and sworn in. As predicted, the new President signed 26 executive orders only hours after taking the oath of office to make good on his campaign promises and show the people that he is prepared to take hard and controversial actions very quickly.
Cabinet nominees are being considered and confirmed by the Senate to get the President’s team in place. Typically, Senators will give the President the team he wants unless there are significant concerns about the candidates, and as you have seen there have been some controversial picks. The team chosen to fill the spots at USDA seem to be very good. We are waiting to see how the Administration will address nutritional and pesticide issues.
House and Senate Republican leadership is working very close together and know they need to move quickly on extending the tax provisions passed in 2017 and significantly cut spending. They hope much of the heavy lifting can be completed before late April or Memorial Day at the latest. It will be done through a budget reconciliation process because that only requires 51 votes in the Senate instead of a 60 vote threshold to avoid the filibuster.
Republicans need to show voters they can govern, fix problems that were highlighted in the last election, and keep the hard decisions as far away from the 2026 mid-term elections as possible. The House Republicans know that they must be united in order to succeed. We are monitoring all these events to protect policies important to beet growers.
In my message to grower leaders at our annual meeting, there are five key things to be ready for:
1) Lots of drama.
2) Attempts to make big changes, including size and efficiency across government.
3) Changes will come quickly.
4) The President’s proposals will challenge authority under the constitution, the Congress and the courts.
5) Lots of turbulence where both threats and opportunities exist for agriculture and sugar in particular.
We must be prepared to manage and engage on multiple issues, all at the same time.
Farm Bill: The full court press continues by ag groups to get a Farm Bill done as soon as possible. On February, 5, ASGA Vice President and Legislative Committee Chairman, Tim Deal (Minn-Dak), testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee along with other commodity and farm organizations urging the committee to pass a Farm Bill swiftly.
With production costs increasing more than 30 percent since the last Farm Bill, additional increases in support levels are essential. At the end of February, ASGA President Neil Rockstad will be presenting the same message at the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum Sweeteners session. We must drive this message to policy makers whenever and wherever we can.
Our annual fly-in will also drive this point home to more than 300 congressional office visits the last week of February and first week of March. When legislators hear the requests directly from the farmers, it really leaves an impression on them, and no one does it better than your beet grower leaders. Thank them for the great work that they do.
Endangered Species: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to list monarch butterflies as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in an effort to protect the eastern and western monarch from on-going population declines. This proposal has many implications for agriculture including expanding monarch and pollinator habitat throughout the lower 48 states and potential new restrictions on pesticide use. A public comment period ends on March 12, and a final decision on listing is expected by the end of the year. We are continuing to advocate for sugarbeet growers’ interests on this topic.