Another 2020 Democrat details farm policy plans
Story Date: 5/29/2019

 

Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 5/28/19

Klobuchar of Minnesota unveiled three agricultural policy priorities as she campaigned for president in Iowa over the weekend: expanding farm loans, helping farmers facing bankruptcy and overhauling EPA's process for granting small refineries exemptions from biofuel blending requirements.

Klobuchar, a senior Senate Agriculture Committee member, called for raising the amount of debt covered by Chapter 12 bankruptcy to $10 million, from about $4.15 million, to allow more farmers to qualifyfor the special farm bankruptcy rules.
— The proposal is similar to bipartisan legislation she sponsored with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and others, plus a companion House bill , which have been steadily attracting co-sponsors (especially as challenges in the farm economy have made headlines recently).

Ethanol plans: Klobuchar also called for legislation allowing year-round sales of E15, gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol. EPA is currently moving to allow such sales through a new regulation the administration hopes to have finalized in time for the summer driving season. But action by Congress would reduce "regulatory uncertainty," according to a policy outline from Klobuchar's campaign.

She also wants to rethink EPA's waivers for small refiners, which her campaign warns could "cripple the homegrown biofuels market for years to come."

What about taking on ag monopolies? The outline doesn't mention cracking down on consolidation in the agriculture industry, which has been a focus of some of her rivals in the Democratic presidential primary. But Klobuchar has already weighed in on agricultural antitrust issues, like proposing a fee on corporate mergers to help investigate anticompetitive practices.

























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