Appointment Hostages The number of presidential nominees being held hostage in the U.S. Senate is notable for several reasons:
Placing a hold on an appointee is typically a tactic used against the White House by the opposing party in the Senate, but now it is being actively exercised by Republicans against their own party’s leader. Many of the holds relate to trade or agriculture such as the following:
- Senator Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) is holding up Chief Agriculture Negotiator-designee Gregg Doud because U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Lighthizer has yet to respond to him on the ill effects of the proposed expedited safeguard for perishables in the NAFTA renegotiation. - Senator Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) is blocking two U...
What You Need to Know Today: A third U.S. border crossing (Columbus, New Mexico) has reopened to Mexican cattle imports following nearly two years of restrictions related to New World screwworm. The reopening could gradually improve feeder cattle availability, although more than 60 confi...
Yesterday, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a new report of negotiated cash purchases of cattle under the mandatory price report. The report included Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. The goal of the report was to solve the confidentiality issues e...
Key Takeaways: U.S. soybean crushing began in 1911 and saw its most rapid expansion during the 1930s amid the broader agricultural and technology revolutions of the time. After peaking in the early 2000s, the soybean crushing industry went through a downturn as poor crush margins forced...
