[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][title size=”1″ content_align=”center” style_type=”underline solid” sep_color=”#000000″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]

House Republicans looking to overhaul child nutrition programs

[/title][fusion_text]Monday, April 25th 2016

House Republicans are looking to move an overhaul of child nutrition programs against stiff Democratic resistance, while the Senate GOP plots a more bipartisan authorization bill for waterway projects. The House Education and the Workforce Committee is preparing to debate a child nutrition reauthorization bill that would force the Agriculture Department to reconsider school meal standards every three years and roll back restrictions on snacks that were imposed under the expired Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. The markup hasn’t been officially scheduled, but sources said it is expected to be on Thursday. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, meanwhile, is expected to mark up a new Water Resources Development Act. Meanwhile, the Senate resumes debate this week on amendments to its fiscal 2017 Energy-Water spending bill, which funds the Army Corps of Engineers. The House is expected to pass a pair of bills on Wednesday that are important to pesticide manufacturers and biotech companies. The American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act (HR 4923) would set up a process for determining tariff relief on components that the pesticide industry need to import. The previous miscellaneous tariff bill expired in 2012. The Senate-passed Defend Trade Secrets Act (S 1890) would allow biotech companies to file civil claims directly in federal courts against people the firms say have stolen trade secrets. Away from Capitol Hill, the National Organic Standards Board on Monday begins a three-day meeting where it will debate several issue that the industry has been struggling with for years. One is a longstanding proposal by the board to bar the use of hydroponics in production of organic production. Critics of the practice say hydroponic vegetables are being grown in several states and also imported from Europe and Mexico and sold as organic. Farmers and other advocates of the ban say true organic farming can’t be done without soil, but the issue has been caught up in a pending USDA proposal to approve organic aquaculture. Some fish farms want to raise vegetables in the water. The board also is wrestling with how to ensure the purity of organic seed. The board is expected to consider a proposal by the Organic Trade Association to do a study that could be used to determine limits for trace amounts of biotech contamination in organic seed.

[/fusion_text][/fullwidth]