Federal

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In the national immigration debate, anti-immigrant rhetoric is at a fever pitch generated by politicians bent on inciting a cultural war and exploiting the fears many Americans have about their economic situation and how their communities are changing. But to truly understand the role of immigrants in the United States, we must look to the states and localities where immigrants live. [node:read-more:link]

A university farm policy specialist says the House defeat of the farm bill may have residual effects on getting farm legislation passed.  The future of farm policy depends on lawmakers working together, said Jonathan Coppess, at the University of Illinois.“What’s going on is troubling beyond the defeat of Friday,” Coppess told Brownfield Ag News, referring to the day the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is proposing amending the federal meat inspection regulationsto remove a redundant requirement for slaughter establishments to clean hog carcasses before incising. Facilities are now required to have a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system that identifies potential biological, chemical or physical hazards, and the controls to prevent those hazards at specific points in the process. [node:read-more:link]

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley had some harsh words for House Ag Committee Chair Mike Conaway of Texas. The Grassley response came as Conaway said Grassley is wrong “every single time” when he complains about loopholes in the process by which USDA makes subsidy payments to farmers. Earlier this week, Grassley had said he would use the Senate farm bill to go after loopholes that non-farmers exploit to collect a lot of subsidy cash from the government. The House version of the farm bill doesn’t contain any payment limitations. [node:read-more:link]

United States Trade Representative Michael Froman announced today that the Obama Administration has launched a new trade enforcement action against Canada at the World Trade Organization (WTO).  Today’s action challenges British Columbia’s (BC) regulations that discriminate against the sale of U.S. wine in grocery stores.  These regulations appear to breach Canada’s WTO commitments and have adversely impacted U.S. wine producers.  Today’s action marks the 26th trade enforcement challenge the Obama Administration has launched at the WTO. [node:read-more:link]

Newly released emails show senior Environmental Protection Agency officials collaborating with a conservative group that dismisses climate change to rally like-minded people for public hearings on science and global warming, counter negative news coverage and tout Administrator Scott Pruitt's stewardship of the agency. [node:read-more:link]

Employers can force workers to settle disputes outside of court, the U.S. Supreme Court said this week, which could negatively affect agricultural workers and employees who earn low wages. That’s because ag-sector workers, like farmhands and meatpacking-plant employees, often have to turn to class-action lawsuits to collect unfairly withheld or stolen wages.Monday’s 5-4 decision in Epic Systems v. [node:read-more:link]

FEMA had a warning for local governments at the annual Governor’s Conference on Hurricanes: Don’t count on Uncle Sam to be there immediately after the next natural disaster. “If you’re waiting on FEMA to run your commodities, that’s not the solution,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said Wednesday. “I can’t guarantee that we can be right on time to backfill everything you need.” [node:read-more:link]

The farm bill, which failed on the House floor Friday, will get a second vote June 22 after a vote on a conservative immigration bill earlier that week, House Majority Whip Steve Scalisesaid Monday. The immigration bill by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas that leaders have scheduled a vote on includes border wall funding, security and enforcement provisions, cuts to legal immigration and a process for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program recipients to obtain three-year renewals of their work permits. [node:read-more:link]