[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=”0″ padding_right=”0″ hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][title size=”1″ content_align=”left” style_type=”underline solid” sep_color=”#000000″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Senate Agriculture Committee reached a bipartisan agreement with the House for extending grain inspection standards and livestock price reporting[/title][fusion_text]Thursday, September 17th, 2015
The Senate Agriculture Committee reached a bipartisan agreement with the House for extending grain inspection standards and livestock price reporting. The legislation, which leaders of the House Agriculture Committee support, would ensure that grain inspections could continue during a labor dispute. The bill (HR 2051), which the Senate panel approved on a voice vote, includes a key compromise sought by grain traders that would allow private inspections of grain when government inspectors are unavailable because of a labor disruption, but both the buyers and sellers would have to agree. The bill also includes an extension of the National Forest Foundation Act. All three bills passed the House as separate bills, so the combined legislation will need further action in the House. The price reporting bill contains changes that are designed to capture more transactions in swine and lamb reporting. The legislation also will require the Agriculture Department to do a study on the program and deliver it to Congress by March 2018. Unlike the House-passed reporting bill, the measure wouldn’t deem the price reports an essential service, which would guarantee they continue during a government shutdown. The Senate legislation drops that requirement. The pork producers were eager to see the program declared an essential service to avoid a repeat of the system’s shutdown when the government closed in October 2013. But some Senate Democrats were concerned that guaranteeing the system would keep operating during government shutdowns would take some of the political pressure off Congress to avoid them, said officials with the group. Both the grain inspection and price reporting laws are set to expire Sept. 30. The legislation extends both to 2020. Authorization for the National Forest Foundation expired in 1997. The bill would extend it though fiscal 2018. The foundation helps fund improvements to the forests.
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