Chuck Grassley

USDA layoffs and office consolidations are raising bipartisan concern in Congress.  Staffing levels could be pared by nearly 10% starting by early May, with the remaining staff relocated to three hubs around the country.  That’s according to briefed USDA officials, who are cited in a report by Government Executive, a government business news daily.   The layoffs and ...

Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate introduced legislation last week that would strike down California's animal-welfare law created as a result of Proposition 12.  The Food Security and Farm Protection Act introduced by Iowa’s senators Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst,  as well as Roger Marshall from Kansas, would prevent any state or local government from passing laws that interfere with commerce a

On Wednesday, Southwest Washington’ Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Michigan Representative John Moolenaar introduced the Farmland Security Act of 2025.  The two said the bipartisan bill will increase transparency and oversight of foreign ownership of American farmland.   Foreign-owned ag...

Senators Chuck Grassley and Deb Fischer, both from Iowa, and both Senate Ag Committee members, reintroduced the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2025.  The legislation is currently the only permanent, nationwide solution to unleash the power of E15, which would fulfill the White House mandate for energy independence.  Th...

U.S. global food aid is stalled as the Trump Administration and government efficiency chief Elon Musk look to dismantle or combine parts of the U.S. Agency for International Development into the State Department.  And House Ag Democrats contend that roughly $340 million dollars in U.S. food a...

Congress may take the only Farm Bill action politically possible this month, which is to extend the old Farm Bill yet again.   “In the Senate, we can’t reach an agreement that reflects what the House has done in a bipartisan way to make sure the next five-year farm bill reflects the inflation in agriculture that has been obvious since 2018," noted Senate Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa.   I

A bipartisan group of Senators recently launched an effort to get USDA to improve the accuracy of foreign-owned farmland data.  The group, led by Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst and John Fetterman wrote Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack that FSA data on foreign holdings of U.S. farmla...

Farmers are not the only ones suffering from low commodity prices and a languishing farm bill. The Ag equipment industry is also taking a hit, which has some on Capitol Hill worried.  John Deere and Precision Planting and Ziegler Ag are all reducing their workforce or closing plants.  In Wash...

Senate Ag Committee members Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Joni Ernst (R-IA) are asking the USDA to improve its process for foreign-owned farmland disclosures.  The letter follows alleged inaccuracies posted online by the Farm Service Agency under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act.   “...

Senators Jon Tester, Chuck Grassley, and Mike Rounds recently reintroduced their Meat Packing Special Investigator Act, which they say is an effort to fight consolidation and enforce the national anti-trust laws.  The bill would create the “Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters” within the USDA.  The office would be...