As the government shutdown continues through day 21, there is little to no hint that a resolution to the ongoing stalemate between Republicans and Democrats is about to end.
The latest setback: On Monday night, Senate Democrats rejected a Republican-led stopgap funding bill for the 11th time with a 50-43 vote. The resolution needed 60 votes to pass, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
He says more Democrats are needed to step up and vote in cooperation with Republicans to get the government reopened.
“If we can get four more Democrat votes, the government will be opened up,” Grassley contends.
In the meantime, county Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices remain closed, keeping services like new loans, farm program sign-ups, and disaster assistance from being addressed. Market data that helps set commodity prices is also not being released.
Trump has mentioned taking action to reopen the county offices, but Grassley is unsure whether he can accomplish that.
“I don’t know that he has that authority, but he surely had it with about $8 or $10 billion in the defense budget – to shift it from one activity in the Defense Department to paying the soldiers and the military people,” he told AgriTalk Host Chip Flory on Tuesday.
So far, Trump administration officials say there are no plans to shift dollars around for agriculture like they’ve done with troop pay and other priorities.
President Trump ‘Has To’ Get Trade Resumed With China
Grassley was adamant that Trump needs to make progress in pressing China for a new trade deal.
“He has to [get that done},” Grassley says. “I’d say the president needs to spend a massive amount of time, even some of his personal time, on dealing with China. I know it’s necessary to have lower-level people begin those discussions, but it’s got to be a top priority.”
The U.S. and China exchanged barbs last week, with the U.S. threatening to raise tariffs to 157% if no new deal is reached by Nov. 1. President Trump is supposed to travel to Asia later this week to renew discussions with China.
During his conversation with Flory, Grassley weighed in with his perspective on consolidation in the fertilizer, seed, equipment, the pesticide industries and how that relates to the development of potential monopolies.
“I’m going to wait until the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission gets done with their investigations before I make a decision on it,” Grassley says. “I don’t think we have to pass any laws. The antitrust laws that have been in existence for 130 or 140 years ... just use those laws as they’ve been used for the last 100 years. They’re pretty effective laws.
“It just takes the government enforced to get it done. There’s certain guidelines that have to be met and protocols be met before you actually can break up a monopoly. But the free-market system dictates you don’t have monopolies,” he adds.
Grassley also weighed in on needing year-round nationwide availability of E15, noting that he wishes the president would be more proactive in getting the product readily available on a permanent basis.
“We got legislation that would make it permanent without a presidential waiver. It ought to be easy for the president to promote that. He’s going to have a bailout for farmers because of low prices now, and he ought to connect with that – getting E15 through the Congress of the United States and have it permanent. Because until we get the law passed, we’ll never get the investment by retailers to put in the expensive pumps that it takes to get E15 out.”
Hear the complete discussion between Grassley and Flory on AgriTalk here: