Agriculture
Chair: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)
Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Christopher Bond (R-MO)
- Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Agriculture
Chair: B Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: B Tim Holden (D-PA)
B Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Boccieri (D-OH)
B* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Bobby Bright (D-AL)
B* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
B Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
B Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Debbie Halvorson (D-IL)
B Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Larry Kissell (D-NC)
B Frank Kratovil (D-MD)
- Betsy Markey (D-CO)
B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Walt Minnick (D-ID)
B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- Mark Schauer (D-MI)
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Glenn Thompson (R-PA) *=House Organic Caucus member B=Blue Dog Democrat
Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
- Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
* Tom Latham (R-IA) *=House Organic Caucus member
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Education and Labor
P Chair: George Miller (D-CA)
- Jason Altmire (D-PA)
- Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Joe Courtney (D-CT)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
- Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Rush Holt (D-NJ)
- Dale Kildee (D-MI)
P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
- Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
- Jared Polis (D-CO)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
- Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Paul Tonko (D-NY)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- GT Thompson (R-PA)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC) P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
The Child Nutrition Reauthorization is one step closer to passage as of today. Today, Blanche Lincoln's Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 passed the Senate Ag Committee unanimously. There are two bits of good news along with a lot of bad. (I recognize that the bill does a lot to make sure hungry kids eat - which is great - but while eating bad food is better than starvation, it's certainly not the solution we need.)
First, the bill went forward with $40 million for Farm to School. And second, Sherrod Brown is helping school lunch go organic:
An amendment by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was accepted by voice vote with no opposition to authorize an organic food pilot program that would provide competitively-awarded grants to school authorities to create pilot efforts to buy more organic foods for the school meal programs. The measure would still need to be funded by Agricultural Appropriations for the program to get off the ground.
The bill still only provides $4.5 billion in new money over 10 years (less than half of what Obama called for). Here's how they came up with the money:
The child nutrition reauthorization bill as reported out of Committee today also includes three funding cuts to offset the additional $4.5 billion being invested in school meals and nutrition programs. In addition to cuts to SNAP Ed, as the food stamp education program is now known, and the bonus commodity program, the bill cuts $2.8 billion in farm bill mandatory spending budget authority for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) over the next ten years.
It seems that this would only give about $.06 extra to each kid's school lunch, raising the reimbursement rate from $2.68 to $2.74. The School Nutrition Association is asking for an extra $.35, which I believe is what is needed to help schools pay for the current (often crappy) school lunches they now serve. In other words, anything over $.35 goes to improve school lunch quality, and anything less means no improvement at all. We need an extra $1 per lunch to make school lunches really healthy. From everything I've seen about school lunch, I believe that it all REALLY does come down to money. So there are some good bits in the bill, but it's just not acceptable unless we get over $.35 added to the reimbursement rate.
The next step for this bill is the Senate floor. After it passes the full Senate, it will go to the House.
I wouldn't expect any bill from Blanche Lincoln to be good. And this one isn't. Obama called for $10 billion over 10 years in new money for child nutrition. Lincoln gave it less than half that ($4.5 billion over 10 years). That's bad. It's especially bad because most of the problems with school lunch CANNOT BE SOLVED WITHOUT SPENDING MORE MONEY. It's really that simple.
Part of the problem is that Congress passed a "PAYGO" rule (Pay as you go) requiring that any time they increase spending in one area, they find a way to pay for it by either taking money away from another area or by raising taxes. And obviously nobody wants to raise taxes. When Obama called for $10 billion over 10 years for child nutrition, he did not also provide Congress with $10 billion in cuts elsewhere in the budget. So it was left to Congress to figure out how to pay for it. And Lincoln - Senator of Factory Farms and Wal-Mart - decided to cut conservation spending. I'm positive there's any number of wasteful weapons programs out there that we can cut, and I would also like to see corporations pay their taxes (as many do not). Those to funding sources alone, if tapped, could probably pay for gourmet, all-organic meals for our kids.
The bill text and more details on the bill are available here. I had these links yesterday when I posted saying I didn't have the bill text. That's because the bill does not open when I download it. The other files do open though, so check those out.
UPDATE: I forgot to add that there will be a hearing on this on Wednesday, March 24. You can watch live via webcast from the Senate Ag Committee website.
There's a BIG LIST of new food-related bills in Congress (listed below), but the one generating the most buzz is Blanche Lincoln's proposed child nutrition bill.
S. 3124, to reduce the paperwork burden on child care sponsors and providers, introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) with 1 cosponsor.
S. 3126, a bill to promote wellness policies by Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN) with no cosponsors.
S. 3127 a bill to require continual updating of foods provided under WIC by Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN) with no cosponsors.
S. 3128, a bill to make all foster children automatically eligible for free breakfast and lunch by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) with no cosponsors.
S. 3129, a bill to change WIC so that once qualified, participants are in the program for a year before they must be re-certified by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand with no cosponsors.
H.R. 4734 and S. 3040, a bill to improve summer meal programs by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Sen. Lugar (R-IN) with 1 cosponsor in the House and 4 in the Senate.
H.R.4638: The Healthy Start Act, a bill to provide $.05 in federal commodities for school breakfasts by Rep. Herseth-Sandlin (D-SD) with 10 cosponsors.
H.R.4148: The Hunger Free Schools Act, a bill to provide direct certification for free breakfast and lunch by Rep. David Loebsack (D-IA) with 21 cosponsors.
H.R. 3705: Expand School Meals Act, a bill to expand the number of children eligible for free school meals by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) with 47 cosponsors. (It appears that this bill makes meals free for any children who are currently eligible for reduced cost meals.)
What will probably happen is that most of these bills will die, and components of them will be folded into whichever bill ultimately becomes law. Lincoln's bill, which I don't think she's actually introduced yet (and the text of the bill is most certainly not available from the Library of Congress yet), has a darn good chance of ultimately becoming law. More on that below.
Apologies for interrupting this food blog with a post about campaigns and elections, but Blanche Lincoln's days are numbered as a U.S. senator from Arkansas. She trails Republican challengers by double-digits in recent polls by Public Policy Polling and Rasmussen. In fact, Lincoln trails her leading Republican challenger by more than 20 points in PPP's poll.
Assuming Lincoln loses, either to a Democratic primary challenger or to a Republican in November, the Senate Agriculture Committee will be needing a new chair in January 2011. Currently, Democrats are expected to retain a majority in the Senate, which would put Debbie Stabenow of Michigan in line to chair the Agriculture Committee. Republicans have a slim chance at winning enough seats to take over the Senate this November. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia would be the likely new chair, since is the ranking Republican on the committee now, but it's possible that the GOP caucus could shuffle things around.
The latest Rasmussen poll from Arkansas shows Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln trailing four potential Republican challengers. Rasmussen polls tend to skew a bit towards Republican candidates, so take this with a grain of salt.
On the other hand, this poll was in the field before yesterday's Senate Finance Committee hearing on the health care bill, during which Lincoln was one of three Democrats who refused to back both public health insurance option amendments. That probably won't go over well in Arkansas, where a strong majority of voters support "creating a government-administered health insurance option that anyone can purchase to compete with private insurance plans."
Corporate money could get Lincoln re-elected, but if the economy continues to be weak and the Democratic base is uninspired to lift a finger to help her, she could have a very tough road. MoveOn is already running ads against Lincoln.
I don't normally post here about campaigns and elections, but I thought the La Vida Locavore community would want to know that there's a very real chance the Senate Agriculture Committee will be choosing a new chair (Debbie Stabenow?) in early 2011.
Today the Senate Ag Committee met to confirm three nominees to the USDA: Kathleen Merrigan (Deputy USDA Secretary), Jim Miller (Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services), and Joe Leonard (Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Civil Rights). All three will be confirmed, there is little doubt about that, but the highlight of the hearing for me was when Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) took Merrigan to task for her love of organic agriculture. Just one more reason we need to toss his ass out of the Senate in 2014.
Well, it took a little longer in the Senate than in the House, but the Dems came out with their Ag Committee roster:
1. Tom Harkin, of Iowa, Chairman
2. Patrick J. Leahy, of Vermont
3. Kent Conrad, of North Dakota
4. Max Baucus, of Montana
5. Blanche L. Lincoln, of Arkansas
6. Debbie Stabenow, of Michigan
7. E. Benjamin Nelson, of Nebraska
8. Sherrod Brown, of Ohio
9. Robert P. Casey, Jr., of Pennsylvania
10. Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota
11. Kirsten Gillibrand, of New York
12. Michael Bennet, of Colorado
The Republicans are:
1. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) Ranking Member
2. Richard G. Lugar, Indiana
3. Thad Cochran, Mississippi
4. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky
5. Pat Roberts, Kansas
6. Mike Johanns, Nebraska
7. Charles Grassley, Iowa
8. John Thune, South Dakota
9. Vacant seat (What - are they still hoping Norm Coleman wins his race?)
Today, the Senate Ag Committee held the confirmation hearing for Tom Vilsack. I would expect that the process involves the Ag Committee questioning Vilsack and then voting on him, followed by a vote by the full Senate. Typically, the committee's vote to send the nominee to the full Senate for a vote is accompanied by a recommendation to the Senate to confirm that person. (An exception was in the case of John Bolton, in which the committee voted to let the full Senate vote but did NOT recommend that they confirm him.) Vilsack should have absolutely no problems. I've heard that the questions asked at the hearing weren't exactly tough and probing...
UPDATE: If you missed the Vilsack hearing, the recorded webcast is now available online (thanks to Aliza Wasserman for giving me the link!). Political junkies and foodies, enjoy!!
