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Congress: House Dems urge Ag Committee to refrain from using Inflation Reduction Act funds for non-climate programs; Farm Bill extension may be passed in mid-November as part of next government funding push.
House Democrats warn Ag leaders not to raid climate funds, E&E Daily — Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee on Monday urged the panel’s top leaders not to steer conservation money intended for climate-smart farming into other programs, adding to an issue that stands in the way of a bipartisan farm bill for 2023. “Historic investment in conservation will benefit all farmers, and the authorized climate-smart practices will improve water quality, soil health, and habitat preservation on farms across the country,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) and ranking member David Scott (R-Ga.). The lawmakers, led by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), said demand among farmers continues to outstrip available funding for two key initiatives — the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program — that received billions of additional dollars through the climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act. They wrote as Agriculture Committee Republicans on both sides of the Capitol advocate for using Inflation Reduction Act funds for broader purposes in the 2023 farm bill, including conservation that isn’t necessarily aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Thompson and Senate Agriculture ranking member John Boozman (R-Ark.) have said IRA funds could be built into the budget baseline for the farm bill. Thompson has said he questions whether the USDA could otherwise spend all the nearly $20 billion in IRA conservation funds before the appropriation runs out in 2032, even with the strong demand, since those funds were passed outside of the five-year farm measure. Thompson has said since the early days of discussions on the 2023 farm bill that the legislation shouldn’t focus on climate change, although he’s said there’s no longer a debate about human-caused warming and that he believes farmers are on the front lines of responding to it though voluntary conservation. Rather, he said, the programs shouldn’t dictate practices on a local level. In their letter, the House Democrats also pushed back on the idea promoted by Boozman that the IRA’s climate focus largely excludes common conservation practices. Since 2020, they said, nearly half of payments through the EQIP and CSP programs went to climate-smart practices.
Lawmakers quietly debate adding farm bill extension to next government funding bill, Politico Pro- A growing number of lawmakers are privately pressing for Congress to include a farm bill extension in a likely mid-November short-term government funding measure, with the House paralyzed by the speaker battle and time running out before a year-end farm bill cliff. Current government funding runs out Nov. 17, and lawmakers widely believe another stop-gap spending measure will be required to stave off a federal government shutdown. While farm bill programs began to expire on Oct. 1, the real impact of the 2018 farm bill expiration won’t be felt until the end of the year. But Congress appears poised to miss that deadline to pass a new farm bill, as well — neither the House nor Senate Agriculture committees have yet to even produce their draft bills. A growing number of lawmakers are now privately pressing for a farm bill extension, likely one year long, to be added to the next stop-gap funding measure, in order to avoid catastrophic program cliffs for key dairy and other farm programs at the end of the year, according to three lawmakers and three other people familiar with the conversations. The prospect of a farm bill extension is a major theme this week in the crowded House Republican race for speaker. House Republicans from agriculture-heavy districts have been privately quizzing all nine GOP speaker candidates about their plans for the farm bill, including any extension, along with how they plan to pass the House’s currently stalled agriculture appropriations bill. The need for an emergency plan has become clear as the House continues to flounder without a speaker and Republicans press to reform key climate programs Democrats are vehemently opposed to cutting. But key Senate Democrats have privately vowed that they won’t be pushed into cutting Democratic priorities in the farm bill, including climate and nutrition programs, just to get a new bill across the finish line this Congress. Without major movement in the Senate farm bill talks, some Senate Democrats have been privately discussing potentially presenting a public Democratic farm bill plan to help protect vulnerable incumbents facing tough reelection bids, with the idea that Congress would continue to pass an extension of the current farm bill in the meantime, according to three other people familiar with the conversations. Any farm bill extension could be complicated by the future of roughly 20 so-called orphan programs, which are solely authorized and funded under the farm bill rather than other appropriations streams in Congress. Lawmakers say they could require $100 million in total funding to keep those key programs afloat, many of which are Democratic priorities.
BLM: Agency hires public lands advocate John Gale as program executive in Grand Junction, CO office.
BLM fills new senior post with longtime public lands advocate, E&E News PM – The Bureau of Land Management on Monday moved to fill a newly established senior position that is a major component of Director Tracy Stone-Manning’s ongoing effort to reorganize the agency’s leadership. BLM announced it has hired John Gale, who previously served as vice president of policy and government relations for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, to fill a post that will anchor the bureau’s former headquarters in Grand Junction, Colo. The position is key to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s vow to convert that office into BLM’s Western hub. (. . .) Filling the program executive for intergovernmental and external affairs position — a senior executive service-level post — is part of a broader plan Stone-Manning outlined to staff last year to undo the Trump-era decision in 2019 to move BLM’s national headquarters to Grand Junction. Stone-Manning’s plan calls for most of the bureau’s senior leadership to be located in the nation’s capital. That decision has prompted some senior bureau leaders based in Grand Junction to leave BLM or move to a different position rather than relocate to Washington. David Jenkins, the assistant director of resources and planning stationed in Grand Junction, announced in February he would step down and take a different position at the bureau. BLM earlier this month announced it had hired Sharif Branham, former director of the strategic support services division of the Agriculture Department’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, as Jenkins’ permanent replacement, based in Washington. “As we grow the BLM to meet the needs of the landscapes we manage, we will continue to evaluate opportunities for additional growth in the Grand Junction office for the foreseeable future,” she wrote at the time.
Wild Horses and Burros: Moriah HMA gather concludes in Ely, NV.
Bureau of Land Management concludes FY2024 Moriah Herd Area wild horse gather, BLM – The Bureau of Land Management concluded the FY2024 Moriah Herd Area wild horse gather near Ely, Nev., on October 23, 2023. The BLM gathered and removed 440 excess wild horses from public and private lands. The gather was necessary to improve watershed health, protect wild horse health, and make significant progress towards achieving Northeastern Great Basin Resource Advisory Council Standards for Rangeland Health. “The gather was critical to ensuring public land health within the Herd Area, as well as the wild horses, both of which are at risk due to herd overpopulation,” said Robbie McAboy, Ely District Manager. The BLM transported the animals removed from the range to the Sutherland Off-Range Corrals in Sutherland, Utah, to be readied for the BLM’s wild horse and burro Adoption and Sales Program. Wild horses not adopted or sold will be placed in long-term pastures where they will be humanely cared for and retain their “wild” status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.