Washington Insider -- Tuesday

TPA Fight Intensifies

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Senate May Act on Highway Funding Bill This Week

The Senate may actually get around to voting on legislation this week, an action that neither chamber of Congress has undertaken all that frequently during the past 18 months. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., this week is expected to file cloture on a House-passed measure that would provide nearly $11 billion to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent until next May. Without a fix, the fund is projected to run out of money for state road and bridge projects at some point in August.

Both Democrats and Republicans are expected to offer amendments to the proposal, but the expectation is that those will be turned aside and that bill that emerges from the Senate will mirror the House measure.

The overall lack of action by the Senate during this session of Congress was highlighted over the weekend by the Washington Post which ran a story noting that Senate went three months earlier this year without voting on a single legislative amendment. The article also indicated that rank and file senators increasingly feel like pawns in a paralyzing game of chess between Senate Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Action could pick up before the summer recess that begins Aug. 1, but many observers feel that is unrealistically optimistic.

***

Internet Changing How Companies Respond to Consumer Complaints

The rise of social media is allowing disgruntled customers to take their complaints to a wide audience, and resulting in a different set of responses from companies. Over the weekend, the publication Politico detailed this phenomenon and how one determined critic can affect a whole industry.

P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

Two years ago, a corporate lawyer-turned-school lunch blogger and mom of two, filed a petition online asking USDA to stop serving lean finely textured beef (LFTB) in school lunches. Her petition quickly gained traction across the country and resulted in a change in USDA school lunch policy.

Companies have seen how issues relating to food can gain intense publicity and scrutiny in just a short time and have become increasingly sensitive to calls for greater transparency in their operations. This can cause major headaches, especially when consumers' concerns are not fact-based and their demands are to withdraw products that are not known to be harmful. Where this will lead, no one knows, but it is likely that as consumer power grows, it will be exercised more frequently.

***

Washington Insider: TPA Fight Intensifies

Every so often, an issue comes along which confounds congressional observers because even most lawmakers say they favor a certain course of action, but for a number of reasons, mainly political, nothing happens.

That seems to be the case with "fast track," special authority that allows presidents to negotiate trade deals after consultation with Congress on goals and priorities. Congress then agrees to consider implementing legislation under a time limit, subject only to an up or down vote, without amendments. Republicans, by and large, are for the authority and believe that it is essential to support new trade agreements. They point to the fact that lawmakers have granted it to every administration since 1974.

Anti-trade factions, largely Democrats, hate fast track because it limits their opportunities to scuttle proposed deals. This is a problem for the administration, which really does not want to go against its strong supporters, especially union members. So, they have been dragging their feet on moving the current fast track legislation forward. And, now there seems to be a modest effort to whistle past the graveyard on the issue by pretending that fast track isn't necessary.

For example, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently told the press the he rejects suggestions that the Obama administration should be pushing Congress to pass fast-track authority for the president before trying to complete major trade agreements with the European Union and nations along the Pacific Rim. Vilsack told the press that it might be better to provide a concrete trade agreement first, and then push for fast track.

The problem with that approach, observers note, is that negotiating partners are known to be very reluctant to offer the concessions necessary for a strong agreement since they are aware that Congress may simply amend the implementing legislation to death — as has happened in the past.

In any event, Republican lawmakers see the fast track issue as an exploitable weakness for the administration and are threatening to withhold support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact unless Congress first passes fast track. In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, 23 Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee said Congress would not approve the TPP being negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim nations if fast track legislation is not in place that meets lawmakers' goals.

A bipartisan TPA bill was introduced in Congress in January, but has since stalled and is given little chance of passage ahead of the November congressional elections.

Additionally, Secretary Vilsack's recent effort to argue that fast track is not necessary to allow the negotiations to go forward seems almost certain to founder. The importance of this bargaining tool to deal with tough negotiators on the other side is simply too well known and understood for this latest effort at political razzle-dazzle to be effective.

In fact, the gap between Vilsack and the USTR on trade issues seems too wide to make him a serious advocate of an effort to move to ambitious trade deals with or without fast track. As a result, the administration's credibility on trade policy issues seems likely to take yet another severe hit, in spite of strong efforts by USTR Froman to move the negotiations forward, a process that is important to producers and which should be watched carefully as it proceeds, Washington Insider believes.


Want to keep up with events in Washington and elsewhere throughout the day? See DTN Top Stories, our frequently updated summary of news developments of interest to producers. You can find DTN Top Stories in DTN Ag News, which is on the Main Menu on classic DTN products, on the News Menu on Farm Dayta, and on the News and Analysis Menu of DTN's newest Professional and Producer products. DTN Top Stories is also on the home page and news home page of online.dtn.com.

If you have questions for DTN Washington Insider, please email edit@telventdtn.com

(CC)

P[] D[728x170] M[320x75] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[L2] D[728x90] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R1] D[300x250] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R2] D[300x600] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]