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Hanson, Tanner [Tanner.Hanson@mail.house.gov] 4/21/2018 8:44:36 PM Hanson, Tanner [Tanner.Hanson@mail.house.gov] Small, Jeff [Jeff.Small@mail.house.gov] Western Caucus Reboot 04.21.18
Week of 04.21.2018
Farm Bill Passes Committee on Partisan Vote
Democrats appalled, disturbed at bill's 20 hours/w eek work requirement for able-bodied adults
Relying on precisely zero Democrat votes, the House Committee on Agriculture passed H R. 2, the Farm Bill of 2018 by a vote of 26-20 on Wednesday.
Of particular outrage for the panel's Democrats - who all voted 'no' on advancing the bill - were new requirements within the bill's nutrition title conditioning food benefits for work-capable adults on their finding
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employment, or receiving free work training, for 20 hours a week. Such requirements enjoy near-consensus with the American public; previous polling has indicated over 80% agree that recipients of welfare benefits should be required to seek employment or participate in training programs as a condition.
The bill is likely to receive floor consideration in early May.
Following Committee passage, House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway (TX-11) stated, "Today's vote was about America's farmers and ranchers. It was about a better future and greater opportunities for SNAP recipients. It was about fulfilling an obligation to lead, rather than standing on the sidelines.I'm disappointed that my Democrat colleagues have turned their backs on America's heartland - that they've chosen partisan politics over the three years of bipartisan work in this committee. Democrats halted talks over their objection to requiring work-capable adults to either find employment or receive free training for 20 hours per week. Yet, despite this turn of events, I remain hopeful. When House Democrats pushed a partisan farm bill that raised taxes in 2008 over Republican objections, Republicans worked alongside Democrats to fend off hostile amendments aimed against the legislation on the House floor and worked in conference committee to achieve a bipartisan farm bill. I am hopeful De mocrats will not hold the nation's farmers and ranchers hostage in this process over the SNAP work and training requirements, which will provide SNAP beneficiaries not just a benefit, but a better future that only a job can provide."
See the Committee's press release HERE.
Click HERE to read the full legislative text of the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018.
Click HERE to read the section-by-section summary of the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018.
Click HERE to read policy highlights in the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018.
See the Committee on Agriculture's 2018 Farm Bill information page HERE.
Caucus Huddles With Reclamation Commissioner Burman
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At last week's Western Caucus Member Lunch & Speaker Series, our members had the chance to speak with Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman - the first female Commissioner in Reclamation's history, and a formidable expert on water and infrastructure in the West.
The Trump Administration presents an incredible opportunity for our Members to work with the Bureau on the pressing concerns facing the Bureau including long-term storage solutions, new infrastructure, Interior reorganization plans, the Reclamation Fund balance, and the substantial dam and water use complications arising from Endangered Species Act habitat, take and consultation requirement - among many other issues!
Thanks, Commissioner!
Bipartisan H.R. 3144, Balancing Dam Security with Fish Recovery, Set For House Floor Vote This Week
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tp y f e ic a critici pili c ip a c a ta r lo iitip l c c fteptelicw awiiiate are upset with a federa judge's caddi te a p i wafer that cediti t e sacad lot artier uses tore fear S uste River doma le liete
Two weeks ago, the House Committee on Natural Resources passed H R. 3144. The bill is now scheduled for House floor action this week. This important legislation protects four critical dams that provide reliable and affordable water and power.
The dams - Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite - are currently under siege by a liberal federal judge who is forcing operators to ignore federally-authorized scientific consensus in order to spill water downriver - a change that will cost $40 million dollars in lost power sales and harm other infrastructure operations so as to "speed migrating salmon to the Pacific Ocean."
The judge's order, while appeasing environmentalist outrage against the very existence of the dams, defies existent comprehensive scientific study the federal government approved in 2008 and updated in 2014, while lacking itself any evidence that the wasteful spills will have any beneficial effect on salmon runs. Finally, the judge has ordered a new environmental review that he presumably hopes will retroactively justify his spill order when it is completed in several years. The judge has put the cart before the horse in ordering major policy changes first and seeking scientific backing afterwards; he thereby sets a terrible national precedent in which judges are empowered to ignore the scientific consensus on major energy and infrastructure projects so long as they do so while posturing in the service of empty environmentalist talking points.
See an Associated Press story on the events to date HERE.
See Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers' press release following the bill's Committee passage HERE.
Department of Interior Moves Ahead to Drill in ANWR
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Natural Tortotow marks fic start of a 009 ovoofci process, 0|300509 09
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% an flrAe mows to open Arctic refuge to drilling Trip Trump adifflcltlfiffoo or Friday will start tie process of opening fie Aiello Natrona: Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural 90s leasing.
On Friday, the Department of Interior took the major step of publishing in the Federal Register its Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for an oil and gas leasing program in the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This publication sets off the scoping process to determine the breadth of the environmental issues to be accounted for in an eventual Statement. Drilling in the area was authorized in the H R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, after decades of Congressional attempts to do so. Interior officials have expressed hope that lease sales in the area could begin as early as 2019. See the Federal Register Notice of Intent HERE. Read a Washington Examiner article on the development HERE.
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