Daily News Update, Dec. 4, 2007

NCBA: Washington December outlook

Congress returned from recess Dec. 3 and will be in Washington for the next three weeks in hopes of finishing up several key pieces of legislation. While a lot remains uncertain, following is an outline of what we expect to see happen this month.

Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA)
The Senate approved  the PTPA today (Dec. 4). The agreement will be sent to the President and with his signature can implemented. Our attention will now focus on urging quick consideration of the Colombia and Panama free trade agreements.

Energy Legislation
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said that an energy bill will be passed before Congress goes home for the holidays; a vote in the House could occur as early as tomorrow.

Final details of the House version of the bill have yet to be finalized. However, it will likely include an increase in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that would mandate 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022. This would include 15 billion gallons produced from feedgrains as soon as 2016 and the remainder from cellulosic and other advanced biofuels.

Once this bill passes the House, it will need to be considered in the Senate. NCBA is continuing to argue against the inclusion of any language that would increase the RFS mandate for feedgrain based ethanol from its current level.

Appropriations Bills
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said that appropriations bills will be voted out of the Senate before they go home. It appears that the FY08 Agriculture Appropriations Bill could be rolled into an omnibus appropriations bill; however, how the Senate will proceed with these pieces of legislation is still uncertain.

Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act is getting some attention in both houses of Congress. On Dec. 13, there will be a jurisdictional hearing in the Senate on the issue in general.

Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) has introduced H.R. 2421, the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act, which will significantly expand federal jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on this bill this week, but the hearing has been postponed until the first of next year.  NCBA is working with a large coalition of groups to stop this legislation.

Farm Bill
The 2007 Farm Bill is still very much in limbo. Party leaders on both sides have yet to reach an agreement on how to handle the amendments during the floor debate.  This is likely to push back the Farm Bill until early next year.