Five Other Dairy Producer Priorities Pending as Congress Nears Adjournment
December 7, 2015
NMPF is currently working hard on Capitol Hill on a handful of other legislative items important to dairy producers. The following items may also be approved by Congress in the final weeks of its 2015 session:
- Extension of the Section 179 tax credit, which allows farmers and small business to write off capital purchase immediately instead of over time.
- Consideration of a biogas and resource recovery tax credit for farms which invest in nutrient recovery technologies that will remove valuable nutrients while mitigating the environmental impact of the farm operation.
- Repeal of the Country of Origin Labeling for meat, which is threatening to trigger damaging new tariffs on U.S. dairy products exported to Canada and Mexico [see story below].
- A requirement that the Agriculture Department act to stop the decline in milk consumption in schools, which could see a return of low-fat chocolate milk to cafeterias.
- Language exerting federal pre-emption over state laws requiring the labeling of foods with genetically modified ingredients.
- Legislation blocking the implementation of the controversial Waters of the U.S. regulation that is temporarily suspended by a court ruling.
Most of these items are candidates for inclusion in a massive year-end spending bill Congress is expected to pass before adjournment for the year.