Bill Huffman
Director - Government Relations

The Friday Report

September 4, 2009

Congress will return to session on Tuesday with health care reform dominating the agenda for the next several weeks. President Obama will address a joint session of Congress Wednesday evening to discuss “health care reform” and lay out the Administration’s checklist of important provisions for a health care reform program.

Climate Change Legislation

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry will hold a full committee hearing Wednesday on regulating carbon markets in a cap-and-trade system from agriculture’s perspective as well as taking testimony from a producer panel on their perspective on the proposal for a carbon “cap-and-trade system” and on the potential for increased input costs for farmers and ranchers.

California rice producer Frank Rehermann, Chairman of the U.S. Rice Producers’ Group will testify before the committee on the perspective of the U.S. rice industry with regard to “cap-and-trade” legislation and the potential for higher input costs for fertilizer and chemicals used in farming.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats announced this week that they will delay introduction of their “Climate-Change” bill until later in September. The announcement was made jointly by Senator Barbara Boxer, Chair of the Environmental and Public Works Committee and Senator John Kerry of the Foreign Relations Committee. The House of Representative’s bill is pending in the Senate awaiting the Senate’s version of a climate change bill.

Some Interesting Comments from the EPA Administrator

Federal EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said this week that EPA has sent a draft rule to the White House that would establish strict greenhouse gas emission permitting requirements for entities that emit 25,000 tons per year. The EPA’s proposed regulation would cover approximately 13,000 facilities and about 85% of all U.S. emissions. The proposal reportedly would not include an exemption for agriculture.

Some view EPA’s move as an effort to put more pressure on Congress to pass climate control legislation.

In another interesting comment, EPA Administrator Jackson said yesterday that “it is an open legal question” if her agency has the authority to establish strict greenhouse gas emissions, which seems to conflict with the draft rule EPA sent to the White House this week. Perhaps EPA is trying to establish a “legal” basis for taking control of green house gas emissions.

Ag Groups Express Concern About Delay in Appointments at Trade Office

The USA Rice Federation joined other agriculture groups this week in sending a letter to the White House urging timely appointment for two key positions within the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. One of those positions is the chief agricultural trade negotiator and the other is the special assistant to the President for agriculture trade and food assistance. Both positions have been vacant for nearly nine months.

Rice Tenders Scheduled

FRC Executive Vice President Kirk Messick reported today that three rice export tenders have been scheduled. The first will be September 9th for a 13,000 metric ton cargo to Japan, the second will be September 11th for an 8,700 metric ton cargo of white rice and a 10,000 metric ton cargo of brown rice for Taiwan, and the third tender will be held September 22nd for 6,000 metric tons of brown rice for Korea.

Labor Day

We want to wish everyone a safe and restful Labor Day weekend. The FRC office will close at 2:00 p.m. today (Friday).