Washington Insider -- Friday

By DTN's Washington Insider

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

National GMO Labeling Bill Not Expected to Clear Congress

Legislation introduced this week in the House that would establish voluntary –– rather than mandatory –– labeling standards for food made with genetically engineered ingredients also would take away some of the impetus for mandatory labeling schemes under consideration in as many as 27 states.

Opponents of the proposal say it would thwart the wishes of many Americans who have expressed an increasing interest for information about whether the foods they buy contain biotech ingredients. With the increased interest comes an increased reluctance for politicians to legislate in the opposite direction.

One opponent, Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group, told the press that "Americans overwhelmingly want the right to know whether there are GE ingredients in their food." As a consequence, he said, the measure, introduced by Rep. Rep. Michael Pompeo, R-Kan., is unlikely to gain traction in the Senate, a view shared by many Capitol Hill watchers. Nevertheless, Pompeo expects the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold hearings on his proposal before the August recess.

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House Members Seek to 'Insert Themselves' in TPP Negotiations

A bipartisan group of House members, including the chairman and ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, plan in coming weeks to form a working group focused on Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations

Speaking at a Washington event earlier this week, Ways and Means ranking member Sander Levin, D-Mich., said the group intends to meet regularly with officials in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative who are attending the formal TPP talks. "Members of Congress must insert themselves in the negotiations at this critical juncture," he said.

The Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over the nation's trade and tax policies. In the Senate, those duties are handled by the Finance Committee, and members of that panel almost certainly will be joining their House colleagues on the working group.

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Washington Insider: Interstate Fight on Eggs

There is a fairly important fight brewing now between major egg producing states and the largest egg importers concerning humane treatment of laying hens. The dispute has been simmering for a long time, but bubbled to the surface during the farm bill debate when agreement between the Humane Society and some major egg producers seemed to be within reach, but that effort eventually failed.

Now, some producing states are going to court to block importing states like California from imposing rules on both local producers and exporters, and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was asked to weigh in on the issue last week during a visit to his home state of Iowa. He didn't have much to offer in the way of guidance.

The Iowa press asked Vilsack about a resolution by the House calling for the repeal of the California law that "deals with the production of eggs." In other words, the space in which the hens are kept in the houses for laying the eggs. The question focused on the proper role of the federal government in "dealing with this California law."

Vilsack was not about to get involved in the details of the fight, but did edge in favor of the former deal "worked out between the egg producers and the Humane Society that would have resulted in the passage of federal legislation creating a single federal standard." He noted that, "for whatever reason there was not sufficient support for that in the Congress." He said he thinks that is "unfortunate."

Then, the questions got tougher and he was asked whether he and the administration support the effort by exporting states to sue to force California and other importers to change their rules — and, his response was to duck and cover. "I think we're going to have to wait and see what the courts ultimately decide," he said. Well, yes.

Vilsack also suggested that "we're going to get to a point where we're going to get back to where the Humane Society and the egg producers were," a clear suggestion that he thinks the California rules or something very like them may well prevail.

Critics suggest that one aspect of the current situation is a nasty interstate fight regarding whether states who wish to regulate their own production can make other suppliers comply with the local rules. Clearly, the legal powers in Iowa, Missouri and the other states challenging California on this think they can defeat those rules — while California and the other importers disagree. The fight gets wider as many members of state and national legal establishments argue how extensive state powers are to regulate their own commerce.

Another aspect of this fight is what egg consumers in Iowa and Missouri think about efforts to defeat animal welfare rules for layers in their states. Certainly, the Humane Society is hard at work to generate support from that group to support its earlier deal and end the litigation.

So, the "layer cage" fight is one more issue that the farm bill debate stirred up and abandoned without resolving. In general, the longer-term trend is widely seen as moving toward stronger animal rights regulations, and layer cages are one battleground in that larger war. Based on Secretary Vilsack's remarks in Iowa, the administration has no intention of becoming more involved, at least at this time, Washington Insider believes.

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