Where Is $700 Million for Biofuel Producers... Top-Up Payments for Hog Producers?
STB rules against CN voting trust for Kansas City Southern deal
In Today’s Digital Newspaper
Market Focus:
• U.S. consumer confidence drops to 6-month low amid Delta variant worries
• ADP: Private payrolls increased by just 374,000 in August, far short of 600,000 estimate
• U.S. home-price growth rose to record in June
• White House to unveil steps aimed at easing housing supply shortage
• Economists caution against concluding expiring benefits had no impact on employment
• On a roll: P&G ramping up production of toilet paper & paper towels as demand increases
• Social Security costs to exceed total income in 2021 as Covid-19 takes financial toll
• Consumer confidence in U.S. deteriorated sharply in August
• Canadian economy contracted unexpectedly in second quarter
• Biden, Ukraine’s Zelensky to talk Russia
• OPEC+ meets today; most expect group to stick to its planned production increase
• CN voting trust for Kansas City Southern deal denied by regulator (STB)
• SEC boss: Crypto platforms need regulation
• Hurricane Ida is set to push up gas prices
• Hurricane Ida could cause billions of dollars in insured losses
• Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards : Still not clear when electricity will be restored
• Uncertainty of electric power for export facilities keeps pressure on markets
• Ag demand update
• Corn and soybeans under pressure to kick off September
• Transportation expert comments on Hurricane Ida destruction
• Expectations for monthly soy processing and corn usage reports
• Russia could extend mineral extraction tax to fertilizer
• Anec trims August export pegs for Brazilian corn and soybeans
• Indian monsoon rains expected to pick up this month
• Beef prices continue to slide and movement remains light
• Cash hog prices rise, but futures slide
Policy Focus:
• Litigation, confusion follow overturning of water rule
• Capital-gains tax hike exposes Democratic divisions
• USDA’s Covid aid bucket near empty
• What about $700 million for biofuel producers?
• What about top-up payments to hog farmers of $17 per head
Afghanistan:
• Biden defends Afghan pullout as a success and declares an end to nation-building
• Biden: “90% of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave”
• About 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan: State Department
• Washington Post: Biden speech “Will not quiet the critics. Far from it
• Taliban fighters and supporters celebrated across Afghanistan Tuesday
• Humanitarian assistance now needed
• Taliban and other Afghan leaders reach consensus on formation of new gov’t
• Biden again blames former President Trump
• Biden took “responsibility” for Afghan withdrawal, but pointed blame at Afghan gov’t
• Biden to ISIS-K: “We are not done with you yet”
• Interpreter who helped Biden in 2008 left behind
• One issue: how deeply to cooperate against mutual enemy
• Republicans plan to make unease over pullout a defining issue for elections
China Update:
• China blames big grain traders for its woes
• Residential-development giant China Evergrande suspends work on some projects
Energy & Climate Change:
• Shell plans U.K. electric vehicle charging push
• Big energy trading houses bulking up carbon-trading operations
• Lawsuit against Biden climate metric dismissed
Livestock, Food & Beverage Industry Update:
• Campbell Soup beat top and bottom-line estimates for its latest quarter
• NASDA weighs in on USDA bid to boost small meat and poultry processing
• Pandemic-related hours-of service (HOS) waiver extended for livestock haulers
Coronavirus Update:
• Has Delta-fueled Covid-19 surge in U.S. finally peaked?
• Problems with Covid-19 containment among migrants crossing border illegally
• About 70% of adults in EU have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19
• Two top FDA vaccine regulators set to leave agency
Politics & Elections:
• Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passes bill overhauling state’s elections
• New York Governor Kathy Hochul recalls legislature
Other Items of Note:
• WSJ comments on ‘USDA’s retreat on racial preferences’
• Texas law barring abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy took effect
• Amazon trying to crack India's agricultural market by wooing farmers
MARKET FOCUS
Equities today: Global stock markets were mostly firmer overnight. The Dow opened slightly higher and the turned slightly lower. Trader attention is starting to turn to Friday's monthly U.S. jobs update. Asian equities were mostly higher. Japan’s Nikkei was up 361.48 points, 1.29%, at 28,451.02. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 149.30 points, 0.58%, at 26,028.29. European equities are seeing gains. The Stoxx 600 is up 0.6% with regional markets seeing gains of 0.2% to 1.6%.
U.S. equities yesterday: The Dow lost 39.11 points, 0.1%, to end at 35,360.73. The S&P 500 fell 6.11 points, 0.1%, at 4,522.68. The Nasdaq edged down 6.65 points, less than 0.1%, to 15,259.24. All three indexes are hovering within striking distance of their August records.
For the month, the S&P 500 finished up 2.9%, marking its largest monthly rise since April. That helped the benchmark index notch a seventh consecutive month of gains — its longest winning streak since January 2018, when the index rose for 10 straight months. The Dow gained 1.2% for August, its second consecutive monthly gain. The Nasdaq Composite added 4% for August, its third consecutive monthly win.
On tap today (see detailed list of events and reports below):
• ADP employment report is expected to show the U.S. private sector added 600,000 jobs in August. (8:15 a.m. ET) Update: Private payrolls increased by just 374,000 in August, far short of the 600,000 estimate.
• IHS Markit's U.S. manufacturing index for August is expected to hold steady at 61.2, unchanged from a preliminary reading. (9:45 a.m. ET)
• Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index is expected to fall to 58.6 in August from 59.5 a month earlier. (10 a.m. ET)
• U.S. construction spending for July is expected to increase 0.2% from the prior month. (10 a.m. ET)
• Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks to the Atlanta Chapter of the Harvard Business School African-American Alumni Association at 12 p.m. ET.
• South Korea's consumer-price index for August is expected to increase 0.3% from a month earlier and 2.3% from a year earlier. (7 p.m. ET)
• Ukraine/U.S. meeting. President Volodymyr Zelensky will make his first White House visit as he seeks military and economic aid to demonstrate that the Biden administration will not abandon his country. Biden is expected to announce a new $60 million security assistance package for Ukraine.
U.S. home-price growth rose to record in June. The Case-Shiller index rose 18.6% in the year that ended in June, as robust demand continued to outpace the number of homes on the market. The tally is the highest annual rate of price growth since the index began in 1987. Home prices have skyrocketed this year, as the inventory of homes for sale remains well below typical levels and ultralow interest rates have spurred demand.
Meanwhile, the White House will unveil steps aimed at easing the housing supply shortage. The changes would draw upon the administrative authority of government regulators such as the Federal Housing Finance Agency as Congress weighs broader policy changes tied to the debate over revamping U.S. infrastructure. Link for more via WSJ.
Big cuts, little impacts. States that ended enhanced federal unemployment benefits early have so far seen about the same job growth as states that continued offering the extra pandemic-related aid, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis and economists (link). Several rounds of federal pandemic aid boosted the amount of unemployment payments, most recently by $300 a week, and extended them for as long as 18 months. The extra benefits are set to expire nationwide next week. But 25 states ended the financial enhancement over the summer, and most of them also moved to end other pandemic-specific unemployment programs such as benefits for gig and self-employed workers. Nonfarm payrolls rose 1.33% in July from April in the 25 states that ended the benefits and 1.37% in the other 25 states and the District of Columbia.
Economists caution against concluding that expiring benefits had no impact on employment. First, they say it might be too early to detect such an effect. Second, offsetting effects from state reopenings and virus-related restrictions by local governments could be masking the impact of the expiring benefits. Goldman Sachs estimated that if all states had ended benefits, July payroll growth would have been 400,000 stronger, and projected that the nationwide benefit cutoff this month will account for a gain of 1.5 million jobs through the end of the year.
On a roll: Procter & Gamble said it is ramping up production of toilet paper and paper towels as demand increases. The strains in the supply chains for home staples aren’t nearly as severe as at the start of the pandemic, when panicked customers hoarded stockpiles of paper towels and toilet paper. But the growing sales and slimming inventories suggest that supply chains remain fragile and that the surge in Covid-19 cases led by the Delta variant has consumers and merchants on edge. Chains like New England’s Roche Bros are buying more staples and holding more safety stock in case of another run on store shelves. Link to more on topic via the WSJ.
Social Security costs are expected to exceed total income this year. Trustees for the Social Security trust fund in an annual report said the program is expected to pay benefits that exceed its income in 2021, the same as it anticipated last year at the outset of the pandemic. While the pandemic had a significant impact on the program, the trustees said, they expect Social Security’s reserves to be depleted by 2034, only one year sooner than they estimated in their April 2020 report. Once the reserves are exhausted, benefits would be reduced automatically unless Congress steps in to shore up the program.
Consumer confidence in the U.S. deteriorated sharply in August as the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant and concerns about inflation soured household assessments of the economy. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 113.8 in August from a downwardly revised 125.1 in July. The decline in August places the index at its lowest level since February.
Canadian economy contracted unexpectedly in the second quarter, falling short of market expectations on sharp declines in home resale activities and exports amid a spring resurgence in Covid-19 cases. Gross domestic product fell at a 1.1% annualized rate, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. Market expectations were for a 2.5% advance. "Canada's economy couldn't power through another tough Covid wave without losing some ground," CIBC Capital Markets economist Royce Mendes said.
Market perspectives:
• Outside markets: The U.S. dollar index is near steady. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note is up, trading over 1.32%, with a higher tone in global government bond yields. Gold and silver futures are lower ahead of US trading. Gold is trading under $1817 per troy ounce and silver is trading below $23.95 per troy ounce.
• Crude oil futures are slightly higher ahead of U.S. trading, with U.S. crude trading at around $68.60 per barrel and Brent near $71.70 per barrel. Futures gave up larger gains seen overnight in Asian trading.
• OPEC+ meets today for the first time since July, with delegates expecting the group to stick to its planned production increase. The delegates predicted ministers would ratify October’s 400,000 barrel-a-day supply increment at an online meeting this evening. "It would hurt OPEC+'s credibility to change the terms after only one month," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. In recent weeks, the Biden administration has urged OPEC and its allies to boost oil output, in order to combat rising gasoline prices that could threaten the global economic recovery. "At a critical moment in the global recovery, [OPEC production] is simply not enough," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan declared. "We are engaging with relevant OPEC+ members on the importance of competitive markets in setting prices."
• Canadian National (CN) voting trust for Kansas City Southern deal denied by regulator. The Surface Transportation Board (STB) says CN hasn’t demonstrated that use of voting trust would be consistent with public interest. STB ruled the Canadian railroad won’t be permitted to complete a deal using a temporary voting trust that was a crucial part of the offer. The STB is a five-member panel that must bless mergers of freight railroads. The ruling was a unanimous decision. CN had agreed to buy Kansas City Southern in May after prevailing in a bidding war with rival Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., which received the go-ahead from regulators for a similar trust months ago. CN could still press on with its bid by challenging the STB’s ruling in court. Also, the railroad could sweeten its terms. CN said in a statement Tuesday that it is disappointed in the STB’s ruling and evaluating its options. It said it remains confident that its deal is in the public interest. Meanwhile, U.K. hedge fund manager Chris Hohn has demanded CN abandon its $34 billion pursuit of Kansas City Southern and the resignations of chair Robert Pace and chief executive Jean-Jacques Ruest after the U.S. railroad regulator rejected the structuring of the transaction over potential harm to the public interest.
• SEC boss: Crypto platforms need regulation. Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has warned in an interview with the Financial Times (link/paywall) that cryptocurrency trading platforms are putting their survival at risk unless they heed his calls to work within the regulatory framework. “Finance is about trust, ultimately,” he said. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency hacks and fraud are on track for a record year. Data shows that nearly $3 billion worth of digital currency frauds have occurred in 2021 so far.
• Ag demand: Algeria bought roughly 390,000 MT to 460,000 MT of milling wheat from optional origins in an international tender. The North African country lowered its test weight requirement for the shipments, an apparent bid to coax more offers of wheat from France. Jordan is thought to have three trading companies taking part in its international tender to buy 120,000 MT of wheat. Egypt’s state grain buyer is seeking to buy at least 30,000 MT of soyoil and 10,000 MT of sunflower oil. Turkey issued an international tender to buy around 245,000 MT of animal feed barley.
• Hurricane Ida is set to push up gas prices. Moody's said that Ida will mimic the gas spike following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and could weigh on consumer spending and GDP. The energy market's reaction has been muted so far. The national average for a gallon of gas stood at $3.174 on Wednesday, according to AAA, up roughly $1 over the past year.
• Powerful storm surges caused by Hurricane Ida could cause billions of dollars in insured losses across Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, firms estimate. Wells Fargo and Fitch Ratings analysts both have estimated the damages could total $15 billion to $20 billion. In comparison, Hurricane Katrina, which struck Louisiana 16 years to the day before Ida, caused a record $65 billion in insured losses.
• Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said it is still not clear when electricity will be restored. Entergy said in a release that it had restored power to 85,000 customers but that those in the hardest-hit regions could suffer outages for weeks. Officials say power will be out for up to a month as more than 20,000 lineworkers try to repair the grid. Hospitals in and around New Orleans not evacuated after suffering damage continued to operate on backup power and emergency staffing protocols.
• Uncertainty of electric power for export facilities keeps pressure on markets. While Sept is not a large export month, any delays create demand questions, says grain analyst Richard Crow.
• NWS weather: Tropical Depression IDA is forecast to slowly weaken while moving northeastward with a High Risk of excessive rainfall from the northern Mid-Atlantic/Northeast through Thursday morning... ...There is an Enhanced Risk of severe thunderstorms over parts of the Mid-Atlantic through Thursday morning... ...The Sight Risk of excessive rainfall over the Southwest into the Central/Southern Rockies as former T. C. NORA�S moisture moves over the region through Thursday morning... ...There is a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms over parts of the Northern/Central Plains through Thursday morning.
Items in Pro Farmer's First Thing Today include:
• Corn and soybeans under pressure to kick off September
• Transportation expert comments on Hurricane Ida destruction
• Expectations for monthly soy processing and corn usage reports
• Russia could extend mineral extraction tax to fertilizer
• Anec trims August export pegs for Brazilian corn and soybeans
• Indian monsoon rains expected to pick up this month
• Beef prices continue to slide and movement remains light
• Cash hog prices rise, but futures slide
POLICY FOCUS
— Litigation, confusion follow overturning of water rule. A federal court ruling tossing out a Trump-era rule defining waters of the United States is fueling even more uncertainty about federal wetlands jurisdiction and puts possibly hundreds of projects in legal limbo, lawyers told Bloomberg. The decision in Pasqua Yaqui Tribe v. EPA is the latest twist in a decades-long tug-of-war over how to define WOTUS under the Clean Water Act, which determines how wetlands can be developed. It instantly touched off debates over how widespread it will be applied. It could set off a cascade of lawsuits to the ruling itself, and possibly to future WOTUS definitions, said Dave Owen, an environmental law professor at the University of California-Hastings College of the Law. “This isn’t going to be the last word,” Owen said. “The bottom line is there’s going to be more litigation.”
— Capital-gains tax hike exposes Democratic divisions. Democrats on the House committee in charge of turning President Biden’s tax plan into legislation are at odds over how high to increase levies on investment gains, a key part of the president’s agenda. Most House Ways and Means Democrats support Biden’s plan to raise the capital gains rate on those earning above $1 million to 39.6% from 20%, to make it equal with president’s proposal for the top rate on income. About a third of Democrats on the panel, however, are advocating for a lower rate on investments, potentially around 28%, according to reports.
— USDA’s Covid aid bucket near empty. Following a revamped Covid relief program announcement in March, USDA has committed $8.75 billion in assistance to farmers and ranchers, including $750 million for the dairy sector and up to $1 billion for contract growers of pigs and poultry. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on July 13 an estimated $50 million to livestock and poultry producers forced to cull their animals when Covid-19 outbreaks temporarily slowed or shuttered slaughterhouses.
Only a few items remain, including $700 million for biofuel producers. In mid-June, the USDA earmarked $700 million for biofuel producers and said it would act in the next 60 days on “support to timber harvesters, biofuels, dairy farmers and processors, livestock farmers and contract growers of poultry, assistance for organic cost share and grants for PPE (personal protective equipment).”
But what about the top-up payments to hog farmers of $17 per head? That has been the subject of an intense quarrel among some in the U.S. hog sector, with a Canadian hog producer chastising the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) for not doing enough to get the payments announced. Vilsack recently said, “We’ll target future assistance, rather than top-up or across-the-board actions that don’t account for actual losses or payments that have already been received.” Initially, USDA included a halt to the payouts via a regulatory freeze during the change in administrations. Farm-state lawmakers periodically urged USDA to make the payments Two House Republicans said this week, “Unfortunately, USDA has given no indication on if or when these payments will be made.”
Some $24.4 billion has been paid via CFAP since May 2020, when payments began.
AFGHANISTAN
— Biden defends Afghan pullout as a success and declares an end to nation-building. The president said American foreign policy would now be guided more by competition with China and Russia. “I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit,” he said in remarks from the State Dining Room at the White House on Tuesday. The operation to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies was an “extraordinary success,” he said, as he declared the end of an era in which the U.S. uses military power “to remake other countries.”
— "The bottom line,” according to Biden : “90% of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. For those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out."
— About 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan, according to the State Department.
— The speech “will not quiet the critics. Far from it,” says a Washington Post analysis article (link). “His claim that the withdrawal was a success will strike many as questionable at best, and plain wrong to his most severe critics. His acknowledgment that Americans were left behind, contrary to an earlier pledge, will leave a sour taste for many, even those who support the decision to withdraw all forces.”
— Taliban fighters and supporters rallied across Afghanistan Tuesday, celebrating the end of 20 years of foreign military presence and vowing strict Islamic rule.
— Humanitarian assistance now needed. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said 18 million people — half of Afghanistan’s population — needed humanitarian assistance to survive. Meanwhile, differences are already emerging in Europe over how to handle the expected influx of refugees from the country.
— Taliban and other Afghan leaders have reached a consensus on the formation of a new government and cabinet under the leadership of the group’s top spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of his three deputies and the main public face of the Taliban, is likely to be in charge of the daily functioning of the government.
— Biden blamed the Trump administration’s 2020 Doha agreement with the Taliban for the Afghanistan debacle. The agreement, the Biden team insists, left the president no choice but to remove U.S. forces unconditionally from Afghanistan by Aug. 31. But many note that the U.S. promised to withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, but only if the Taliban met commitments of their own. One of them was a pledge to participate in an “intra-Afghan dialogue,” to achieve a “permanent and comprehensive ceasefire” and to agree upon a “political roadmap” for Afghanistan’s future. If the Taliban didn’t honor this commitment, the U.S. had no obligation to withdraw.
— Biden took “responsibility” for Afghan withdrawal, but pointed blame at the Afghan government, which he said was riddled with “corruption and malfeasance.”
— Biden acknowledged that his administration had wrongly assumed the Afghan army would be able to prevent the Taliban from conquering the country at lightning speed but insisted the chaotic airlift — which evacuated more than 100,000 people — had been a success.
— Biden sought to stamp out any concern that the Afghan withdrawal meant the U.S. was reining its counter-terrorism capacity around the world, vowing to pursue a “tough, unforgiving, targeted, precise strategy that goes after terrorism where it is today, not . . . two decades ago”. “To ISIS-K, we are not done with you yet,” he added.
— One issue ahead is how deeply to cooperate against a mutual enemy, and whether to release $9.4 billion in Afghan government currency reserves that are frozen in the United States.
— An Afghan interpreter helped then-Senator Biden in Afghanistan 13 years ago. Now he’s asking Biden to save him and his family, the Wall Street Journal reports (link).
— Republicans plan to make unease over the pullout a defining issue for regaining control of Congress. Republicans will demand an accounting of weapons, mineral wealth and other funds the Taliban obtained following the U.S. withdrawal. Meanwhile, House Republicans today will use the markup of the defense spending bill to fight U.S. recognition of the Taliban. Secretary of State Tony Blinken said Monday that "any engagement with a Taliban-led government in Kabul will be driven by one thing only — our vital national interests… Any legitimacy and any support will have to be earned," Blinken added. Biden is relying on the popularity of the Afghanistan withdrawal to overshadow the execution of it.
CHINA UPDATE
— China blames big grain traders for its woes. A respected voice on China agriculture is Dim Sums: Rural China Economics and Policy. In a recent item (link), it says, “With China's grain and soybean imports on a record pace and agricultural prices at a high level, communist propagandists are blaming multinational companies for price-gouging. When Chinese officials blame someone else for a problem, they are usually trying to divert attention from their own mistakes. Wonder what they're hiding?” It says China's solution is “to divert vast sums of capital from the State-owned banks to create its own grain-trading behemoths… A 2008 China food security plan formulated during an earlier grain price spike authorized Beidahuang and Chongqing Grain Group to acquire huge tracts of land and build warehouses and wharfs in Brazil and Argentina to save money on imported soybeans, but both plans quickly crashed and burned. A decade ago, COFCO and other state-owned companies were handed money to build soybean crushing plants in China to dilute the share of multinationals in that industry, but complaints go on.”
— Residential-development giant China Evergrande suspended work on some projects after it delayed payments to suppliers and contractors and warned it may default.
ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
— Shell plans U.K. electric vehicle charging push. Royal Dutch Shell has offered to install 50,000 on-street electric vehicle charging devices in the U.K. in four years, which could give the energy group one-third of the public charging market by 2025.
— Big energy trading houses are bulking up their carbon-trading operations as governments around the world push to expand the market for trading carbon emissions.
— Lawsuit against Biden climate metric dismissed. A lawsuit brought by Missouri and 12 other Republican-led states against the White House’s interim social cost of carbon is “not ripe” for court, a federal judge said yesterday, dismissing the case. The states’ claims against the interim estimates— introduced in Executive Order 13990—are premature, since the effect of the order can’t be felt yet, Judge Audrey Fleissig of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri decided.
LIVESTOCK, FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY
— Campbell Soup beat top and bottom-line estimates for its latest quarter, earning an adjusted 55 cents per share and beating consensus by 7 cents. It issued a fiscal 2022 adjusted earnings outlook of $2.75-$2.85 per share, compared with a consensus estimate of $2.87, as it deals with higher input costs and a constrained labor market. Shares were initially up more than 1% in premarket trading but subsequently trimmed those gains. Of note, the company said sales of soup were down 21%.
— NASDA weighs in on USDA bid to boost small meat and poultry processing. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) weighed in this week with its recommendations on the Biden Administration’s $500 million plan to improve the nation’s meat and poultry processing infrastructure. In a statement, NASDA said, “The goal of providing a safe, wholesome, abundant, and affordable supply of meat and meat food products throughout the United States is achieved, in part, through the role played by both state and federal food safety inspection programs.” According to NASDA, support for small- to mid-size meat processors is needed across the country to boost US meat processing capacity and to increase their capability to process backlogged livestock while maintaining the stringent food safety standards. “The U.S. needs more meat processors,” NASDA says in its comments to USDA. “The American beef, poultry, pork, and other livestock meat sectors are not homogenous, and meat processing should reflect these dynamic industries. An enhanced meat processing system will give producers and consumers much-needed options.”
Among the group’s recommendations are investments in workforce development, efforts to address inspector shortages, facilities management support and a focus on long-term investment for the post-pandemic recovery.
— Pandemic-related hours-of service (HOS) waiver extended for livestock haulers. Ag interests welcomed a move by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to extend an exemption from hours-of-service (HOS) requirements for livestock haulers through the end of November. The current exemption was set to expire Tuesday (Aug. 31) at midnight, but will now remain in place until Nov. 30. Link to waiver details. Link to NCBA release.
The waiver exempts livestock suppliers and haulers of other goods, including medicine and vaccines, from federal rules that limit how long and how far they can drive. The HOS rules allow 11 hours of drive time, 14 hours of on-duty time and then require 10 consecutive hours of rest. Livestock haulers have long complained the regulations are overly restrictive and ignore the unique pressures of transporting live animals and other perishable commodities.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill in the Senate would provide livestock haulers with the extended relief they are seeking. Introduced by Sens. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), the Haulers of Agriculture and Livestock Safety Act (HAULS Act) would ease several HOS requirements for haulers of agricultural commodities and livestock. The bill includes three key provisions: First, it would eliminate a requirement that ag and livestock HOS exemptions only apply during state designated planting and harvesting seasons. It would also amend the definition of agricultural commodities under HOS rules “based on feedback provided by agriculture and livestock organizations. Finally, the measure would expand an existing 150 air-mile “short haul” HOS exemption for ag commodities and livestock to include the destination side of hauls. Currently, the exemption only applies to the source end of a trip. Ag interests are firmly behind the measure, but it has yet to gain traction in Congress.
A Policy Updates reader writes: “The most important piece of that bill is included in the Senate passed bipartisan infrastructure package. Check out Section 23018. It has the backend 150 exemption.” Link for more.
— After pressure, Waukesha okays free meals. Faced with public criticism, the Waukesha school board reversed its June decision against providing free meals to all students, although one member said the temporary pandemic program "is wasteful by design." Link for details.
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
— Summary: Global cases of Covid-19 are at 217,769,214 with 4,520,473 deaths, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. case count is at 39,198,449 with 640,109 deaths. The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center said that there have been 369,116,950 doses administered, 174,121,529 have been fully vaccinated, or 53.05% of the U.S. population.
— Has the Delta-fueled Covid-19 surge in the U.S. finally peaked? The number of new daily U.S. cases has risen less over the past week than at any point since June. After Delta took hold last winter in India, caseloads there rose sharply for slightly more than two months before plummeting at a nearly identical rate. In Britain, caseloads rose for almost exactly two months before peaking in July. In Indonesia, Thailand, France, Spain and several other countries, the Delta surge also lasted somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 months. In the U.S., case numbers in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri peaked in early or mid-August and have since been falling:
— Covid-19 containment among migrants crossing the border illegally is falling to an already fragile network of border cities, private shelters and churches. The Border Patrol has said it lacks the time to test migrants in their brief custody and the resources to quarantine those who test positive. Cities and groups that were prepared to provide basic aid for hours or days now have to find shelter for migrants for up to a couple of weeks.
— About 70% of adults in the EU have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, officials said yesterday, putting the bloc among the world’s leaders in vaccinations, despite a sluggish start. More than 80% of adults have been fully vaccinated in Belgium, Denmark and Portugal, and more than 75% in Spain and the Netherlands. Including teenagers and children, more than 55% of the overall EU population has been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, Israel now requires its vaccine-passport holders to get a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
— Two top FDA vaccine regulators are set to leave the agency. Both were upset by President Biden’s announcement that U.S. adults should get Covid vaccine boosters.
POLITICS & ELECTIONS
— Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passes bill overhauling the state’s elections. Proponents argued the legislation was necessary to create confidence in the election system and address the possibility of fraud by voters. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he plans to sign into law new election restrictions, overcoming Democratic opposition. Democrats say it would restrict access to the polls, especially for minorities. Democrats in Texas made attempts to halt the bill, including through a walkout in May ahead of a voting deadline. The move denied the legislative body the two-thirds quorum required to conduct a vote. Two months later, more than 55 House Democrats went to Washington, D.C., to again deny a quorum during a special session Abbott called. Abbott vowed to keep calling special sessions to pass the bill.
— New York Governor Kathy Hochul recalled the legislature for a rare special session to extend the state's freeze on evictions. The Senate and Assembly will vote today on a measure to extend an eviction moratorium as far as Jan. 15.
OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE
— WSJ comments on ‘USDA’s retreat on racial preferences.’ More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed challenging USDA’s racial preferences relative to its to program to forgive loans for “socially disadvantaged” farmers. Three of those cases so far have resulted in preliminary injunctions by district courts in Florida, Wisconsin and Texas. The Dept. of Justice failed to appeal the Florida injunction before its 60-day deadline last week and hasn’t contested the others. In a commentary item (link), the WSJ says, “Perhaps it thinks it will lose on appeal and doesn’t want to risk taking these cases all the way to the Supreme Court. The farmers’ program is a blatant violation of the Constitution’s equal protection clause.”
— Texas law barring abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy took effect — at least temporarily — today, as the Supreme Court deliberated over a bid to block the measure while a legal challenge goes forward. If it remains in effect, the law will be the strictest in the country.
— Amazon is trying to crack India's agricultural market by wooing farmers, hoping to secure the produce that yields two-thirds of the country's $1 trillion in annual retail spending. The company has begun offering real-time advice and information through a dedicated mobile app to help farmers make decisions on crops and even deploy machine learning technology. Amazon joins Reliance and Walmart in courting the sector. Link for more via Bloomberg.
EVENTS AND REPORTS
Wednesday, Sept. 1
· CODEX food labeling. USDA U.S. Codex office teleconference of the Codex Alimentarius Commission to discuss agenda items and draft United States positions to be discussed at the 46th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labeling to be held Sept. 27-Oct. 1.
· Wind energy. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration teleconference of the Hydrographic Services Review Panel on issues relevant to NOAA's navigation services, including offshore wind energy and data sharing for ocean mapping and technology to address ocean mapping in 40 meters and shallower.
· Japan-Taiwan ties. Henry L. Stimson Center virtual discussion on "Changing the Discourse on Taiwan: Japan/Taiwan Ties in 2021."
· FY 2022 budget: NDAA. House Armed Services Committee markup of HR 4350, the "National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2022."
· Social Security and Medicare trust funds. Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget virtual discussion on "What's Going on With the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds?"
· Focus on pandemics. Center for Global Development virtual discussion on "Resolving Today's Global Health Crisis, and Avoiding Future Pandemics."
· Cybersecurity. House Homeland Security Committee hearing on "Stakeholder Perspectives on the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2021."
· PPP loan forgiveness. House Small Business Committee hearing on "What Comes Next? PPP Forgiveness."
· Government transportation. Government Executive Media Group virtual discussion on "The Future of Government Transportation."
· Afghanistan. Washington Post Live virtual discussion on "The Future for Afghan Women."
· Climate change planning. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration teleconference to introduce a project called East Coast Climate Change Scenario Planning.
· Economic reports. ADP Employment Report | PMI Mfg. Index Final | ISM Mfg. Index | Construction Spending
· Energy reports. EIA Petroleum Status Report | Weekly Ethanol Production
· USDA reports. NASS: Cotton System | Fats & Oils | Grain Crushings | Broiler Hatchery
