Jim Costa

On Friday Washington Congresswoman Kim Schrier announced that she has been named the Chair of the New Democrat Coalition’s Farm Bill Task Force.  As Chair, Schrier will help shape Farm Bill policy and priorities for the almost 100 members of the Coalition.   “I am ...

On Thursday, a host of lawmakers, including Washington’s Dan Newhouse and Kim Schrier introduced legislation that looks to boost trade and support American farmers.  The Supporting Market Access to Reinvigorate Trade (SMART) Act of 2022, would increase funding to several trade focused programs at USDA, including the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development Program (FMDP).     Oth

Last week, two California Democrats introduced the American Port Access Privileges Act in the House of Representatives.  John Garamendi and Jim Costa say the bill follows up on the Ocean Shipping Reform Act. Representative Costa said, “We need to remove bottlenecks and mitigate congestion at our ports to carry out American exports.” The l...

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association said a House Agriculture Subcommittee hearing Wednesday echoed the organization's longstanding call to expand processing capacity. The Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee hearing on the State of the Beef Supply Chain, examined shocks in the supply chain ...

Immigration legislation supported by President Biden has made its way to Congress. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Representative Linda Sanchez of California, both Democrats, introduced Biden’s immigration proposal into their respective chambers. The ...

Earlier this week, the USDA announced a new Dealer Statutory Trust to Protect Livestock Sellers. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed in December, amended the Packers and Stockyards Act by adding language to establish a "Dealer Statutory Trust" for the benefit of unpaid cash sellers of livestock ...

Last week, Representatives Dan Newhouse, Jimmy Panetta, Jim Costa and others led 70 colleagues writing a bipartisan letter to Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue and the USDA, calling on him to spend specific funding to protect Ag workers. The letter calls on Perdue to make at least $1.5 bi ...

House lawmakers will nominate the next House Agriculture Committee Chair Thursday. The two candidates being considered are David Scott, a Democrat from Georgia, and Jim Costa, a Democrat from California. Scott is next in line, seniority wise, and endorsed by outgoing chairman Collin Peterson ...

Farm County lost decades of experience in D.C. this week, when House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson lost his local race. The Minnesota Democrat fell to Republican Challenger Michelle Fischbach. Peterson has led Democrats on the committee for the last three Farm Bills ...

House Agriculture Committee members want questions answered regarding the Department of Agriculture’s Families Food Box Program. Led by Democrat Marcia Fudge of Ohio, the group sent a letter to Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue. They said the letter comes amid reports of contracts under the program awarded to companies with little to no experience in agriculture and food distribution, and may have little