Hunter Moorhead, Legislative Consultant December 13, 2019
The Legislative Committee is cautiously optimistic as we announce that the leaders in spending talks announced Thursday afternoon that they have reached a “deal in principle” to fund the federal government for the rest of fiscal 2020, according to House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY). A vote in the House will be scheduled for Tuesday.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) said staff members are working out “a few details.” He and Lowey announced the agreement with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the ranking member of Senate Appropriations, and Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), ranking on House Appropriations.
Although this is very positive news and we are hopeful that Congress will be able to accomplish this task, we also acknowledge there are lot of hot topic partisan politics issues swirling in Washington that could derail these plans. Your Legislative team will keep a close eye on the appropriations process in the coming days and let you know of any major changes.
By vote of 74-20, The U.S. Senate
today passed a short-term measure to fund the government until December 20th,
buying Washington four more weeks before the threat of another shutdown. The White House has indicated that President
Trump will sign the continuing resolution.
Since the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have both passed their versions of the Agriculture Appropriations bill, we are hopeful the two draft measures will be finalized in conference prior to the December 20th deadline.
The NASCOE Legislative Team will continue to monitor the appropriations bill and keep the membership informed of any progress.
Continuing Resolution Vote and NASCOE Preparations Hunter Moorhead, Legislative Consultant November 19, 2019
By a vote of 231 to 192, the House of Representatives today passed the continuing resolution to keep the government open through December 20, 2019.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a floor statement today that the Senate will pass the continuing resolution and President Trump will sign it.
The Leader also mentioned that talks continue regarding completion of the fiscal year 2020 appropriations bills. As a reminder, the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have both passed the Agriculture Appropriations bill. We are hopeful the two draft measures will be finalized before the December 20 deadline.
Although we have no indication a government shutdown is anticipated, Chris Lary, National Benefits/Emblems Chair, has been taking a proactive role to prepare in case there were to be a furlough. Many employees have been contacted regarding what worked well last time and what didn’t work so well. She has complied information in order to help mitigate the impact of a furlough.
The employee checklist for furlough has been reviewed, web links have been viewed and verified and NASCOE is prepared should the need arise to get membership information to assist them.
Please make sure your State President has your current home email address so that you will receive this information timely.
FSA
County Office Employees are facing challenging times. You are administering more programs from
various software platforms than ever before.
You face these challenges head on each day with fewer employees than we
have ever had. NASCOE understands you
are struggling to meet the daily demands of providing an ever-increasing array
of programs while maintaining the same quality of service your customers expect
and deserve.
Your NASCOE team has worked diligently with the FSA Administration to
increase staffing in field offices. We
supported the development of a work measurement tool to support our case for
additional staffing, however the administration continues to withhold the full
results of the workload model. Members
of Congress have also requested on multiple occasions and been denied this
information from the Department.
NASCOE continues to work with concerned members of Congress to provide
additional funding for FSA salaries and expenses. Congress has responded and provided their
support. They are concerned about the
American Farmers who depend on you to deliver the farm programs passed by Congress
to help keep rural America strong. Due
to these concerns, both Houses of Congress have recently held hearings on the
2018 Farm Bill Implementation. They have
asked the tough questions regarding FSA county offices being properly staffed
so employees have the ability to administer these farm programs.
On September 19, 2019, Under Secretary Bill Northey testified at a joint House hearing of the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee and Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee to Review the Implementation of Federal Farm and Disaster Programs. You can view the hearing by clicking on the following link.
The hearing is 3 hours long so you may want to skip ahead to the following points
indicated below to hear the items that best reflect the issues that NASCOE has
been working closely with members of the House on:
1:06 – Congressman Peterson – Staffing concerns and part time offices
1:12 – Congressman Conway – 2018 Farm Bill implementation
1:15 – Congressman Peterson – Employment application process
On October 17th, Deputy Secretary Censky provided testimony and
answered questions at a hearing held by the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and
Forestry Committee on implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill. Below is a
link to the page where you can watch this hearing.
You may want to skip to the following times which highlight the committees
concerns about the status of FSA staffing:
0:36 – Senator Hoeven – FSA office staffing
1:21 – Senator Hyde Smith – Asks questions concerning the
current law prohibiting the closure of any FSA county office without prior
congressional approval, and prohibiting the relocation of any staff that
results in an office with two or fewer employees
FSA programs are discussed at various points throughout both hearings. Please take time to look at
the clips from the hearings to see how NASCOE and Congress are working together
to address these concerns with USDA. We
believe you will find that Congress is very aware of the lack of hiring
going on in FSA across the nation. You will also see how much Congress
appreciates the work that our members do for American agriculture in county
offices across this nation each day.
The House of Representatives and U.S. Senate approved legislation funding the government at current levels through November 21. This allows our employees to continue working without any lapse of federal appropriations.
The bill includes language allowing the Secretary of Agriculture to continue disbursing Commodity Credit Corporation funds for the Market Facilitation Program. This will ensure farmers continue to receive financial assistance.
Our legislative committee is working to educate legislators about the need for additional salaries and expenses funding for the next fiscal year. In addition, Members of Congress continue to highlight FSA’s field office staffing needs and the inability to adequately deliver farm programs.
The agency has completed the new workload analysis and our farmers deserve better customer service. We believe field office staff numbers are short over 2,000 FTEs. The time has come for the USDA to give us the tools necessary to deliver farm programs.
2020 Appropriations Update September 11, 2019
Hunter Moorhead, Legislative Consultant
On June 25th, the full House voted 227-194 to approve the fiscal year 2020 Agriculture appropriations bill which included an increase in FSA salaries and expenses of 3.8 % or $ 41 million. The Senate has yet to act on any 2020 appropriation measures. Due to this lack of progress, the House is planning to move a continuing resolution next week that will run through November 21st or 22nd, or through December 6th. It appears November 21st or 22nd will the most likely choice, but we are told the decision has not been made yet. At this time, we do not expect that the government will face another shutdown. With an election year coming up, we do not feel that anyone in Congress will have the stomach to add this as an issue for voters to take sides on.
The Senate planned on moving 4 bills this week through subcommittee and full committee appropriations. Democrats met Monday night, and decided they wanted to push back on anticipated allocations in domestic discretionary as well as on some issues important to their base (border wall restrictions, abortion/title X, etc.). There is a divide between members who want to work with the majority and address their concerns through the process (in conference) and those who want to begin fighting on every appropriations bill immediately.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell reiterated on the Sunday news programs his intention is to only pass appropriations bills in the Senate acceptable to the President.
The plan had been to mark up four bills this week (DoD, E&W, LHHS, SFO), four next (Ag, FS, MilCon/VA, THUD), and four the following week (CJS, DHS, Interior, Leg Branch). Chairman Shelby and Senate Republican Leadership hoped to have the first four bills on the Senate floor next week (9/16-9/20). Absent some agreement between Chairman Shelby, Ranking Member Leahy and Senate Leadership, the FY 2020 appropriations schedule appears to be moving further down the calendar.
NASCOE fully understands that our members will have concerns, especially considering the events last year. We will continue to closely monitor the appropriations process and will keep membership apprised as new developments arise.
The
application deadline is coming up for the NASCOE Leadership Development
Program! JULY 1st-Please spread the
word! The team has an exciting agenda planned to develop NASCOE’s future leaders.
If you have ever considered getting more involved in your state or on the
national level of NASCOE, this training is for you! It will provide you with all
the tools you need and help you build those key relationships.
Please
visit the NASCOE Leadership Development page for more details and
instructions on how to apply. Direct your questions to Donny Green and Neil Burnette,
Legislative Co-Chairs.
NASCOE is excited to
announce an opportunity for states to develop and enhance leadership to promote
sustainability and success into the future. We are asking states to identify,
engage, educate, and invest in the “NASCOE Leadership Development Program” which
is designed to focus exclusively on leadership development and enhancement all
the way from the state level to the national level!
We have so much
undiscovered and available talent within NASCOE’s membership, and we want to do
our best to recruit and train future aspiring leaders to continue carrying the
torch. It is NASCOE’s goal to deliver this training in a “train-the-trainer”
format so that the results and benefits will be perpetual by allowing states to
take this model back home and continue “passing the torch” to future
generations of up and coming leaders.
It is important to
understand that this leadership training is not focused on a traditional
audience compared to NASCOE’s audience for legislative conferences. Our intent
is to focus on leadership development, with only a segment of legislative
education.
Over the course of
several months, NASCOE’s leadership has worked diligently to formulate a
targeted plan of action, a suitable venue location, and a team of excellent
presenters and coordinators.
Please
visit the NASCOE Leadership Development page
for more details and instructions on how to apply.
Hunter Moorhead, NASCOE Legislative Consultant June 5, 2019
Below are the highlights of the disaster aid package previously passed by the Senate, passed by the House earlier this week, and is now awaiting the President’s signature:
Title I – Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
Agricultural Programs — $3.005 billion. Payments for crop and livestock losses due to hurricanes, typhoons, volcanic activities, tornadoes, floods, snowstorms, or wildfires during 2018 and 2019.
Emergency Forest Restoration Program — $480 million. Assistance to owners of private forests to restore disaster-damaged forests.
Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations — $435 million. Financial and technical assistance to states and local sponsors to protect and restore watersheds.
Emergency Conservation Program — $558 million. Provides emergency funding and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters.
Rural Community Facilities Program — $150 million. Grants for facilities to provide health care, education, public safety, and public services to rural communities.
Nutrition Assistance Program for Puerto Rico — $600 million. Additional funding to continue disaster nutrition benefits in Puerto Rico during its recovery from Hurricane Maria.
Nutrition Assistance Program for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) — $25.2 million. Additional funding for nutrition benefits in CNMI following typhoons in September and October.
Nutrition Assistance for America Samoa — $18 million for disaster nutrition assistance for American Samoa.
Study of Puerto Rico disaster nutrition assistance — $5 million for a study of the disaster nutrition assistance provided to the Commonwealth in 2017.
The Bill also includes:
Provides trade mitigation assistance through the Market Facilitation Program to producers who derive at least 75 percent of their adjusted gross income from farming, ranching, or forestry related activities.
Establishes crop insurance for hemp products.
Allows certain California communities affected by 2018 wildfires to be eligible for USDA Rural Development programs until 2020 Census data is available.
Hunter Moorhead, NASCOE Legislative Consultant May 17, 2019
The current work period has
proven active for agricultural policy proposals and related oversight hearings.
The below provides an update of certain activities that impact FSA programs and
employees.
Disaster Assistance — The House of Representatives, on May 10, passed legislation providing assistance for 2018 and 2019 hurricanes, wildfires floods and related disasters. The Senate is currently negotiating with the House to finalize what will become the final legislation. The Senate is expected to debate disaster assistance next week. The House details are summarized below for your review.
House Passed Bill:
$3.005 billion for crop and livestock losses for 2018 and 2019
$480 million for Emergency Forest Restoration Program
$125 million for Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations
$500 million for Emergency Conservation Program
$600 million for Puerto Rico nutrition assistance
$25 million for Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands nutrition assistance
$5 million for American Samoa nutrition assistance
$5 million to study Puerto Rico nutrition assistance provided during 2017
Market Facilitation Program payment limitation language:
$900,000 and 75% from agriculture AGI payment limitation
$125,000 payment cap
Market Facilitation Program — The Secretary of Agriculture recently commented that USDA will provide another round of trade assistance. Our contacts believe the total assistance will range between $15 and 20 billion. It is likely that payment rates for specific commodities will be adjusted compared to 2018. Once available, we will provide additional details.
Federal Appropriations — The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled to consider the fiscal year 2020 bill on Thursday, May 23. Our meetings with Members and staff have been productive but didn’t provide any details about funding levels. Currently, the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled to meet Tuesday, June 11.
H.R. 2478 Federal Retirement Fairness Act — Congressman Derek Kilmer (D-WA) has introduced legislation allowing former temporary employees, in a temporary position after December 31, 1988, to be credited for service under FERS. Unlike previous legislation, this proposal is more favorable by not requiring significant investment by individual employees while giving workers additional credit toward retirement. We will continue to monitor this legislation that could potentially impact many of our members.
