It will take months to calculate the damage Hurricanes Harvey and Irma unleashed on Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and other states this summer: lives lost, homes destroyed, businesses wrecked, property damage in the tens of billions of dollars. But be…
Read More
Tags: Attorney, Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, Congress, Crop Insurance, FCIC, FEMA, Flood, Florida, Harvey, Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, Hurricane, Insurance, Irma, Kenneth D. Ackerman, Law Firm, Lawyer, Louisiana, National Flood Insurance Program, NFIP, Texas
By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
September is here. Labor Day is behind us. The To Do list in this town by the end of the month is a heavy lift. First, we have disaster relief for those devastated by Hurricane Harvey. But we h…
Read More
By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
The U.S. Congress can’t agree on anything. However, they did agree to impose new sanctions on Russia. The vote was almost unanimous. The action is punishment for the Russian cyber intrusions into last…
Read More
By Marshall Matz, as published in Agri-Pulse
The 2018 Senate Agriculture Appropriations Report notes that global food production will have to increase by 60 percent to meet the needs of 9 billion people forecast for 2050. The report then calls upon…
Read More
Tags: Africa, AGRA, Agriculture, Agro-Dealer, Congress, Famine, Food, Food Security, Marshall L. Matz, National Security, National Security Council, Seed, Smallholder, Trump
By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
Today, I’m going to talk about President Donald Trump – policies, issues, tweets and all. Yes, I think he tweets too much or, at least, he should limit his tweets to policies and avoid personal attacks. I u…
Read More
By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
Back in March, President Trump gave us a look at his budget plan. Although without much detail, it made clear to us that one of his highest priorities was to downsize the federal government. And, he would do tha…
Read More
Tags: Agriculture, Budget, Congress, Crop Insurance, Farm Bill, Farmer, Food Stamps, John R. Block, Mulvaney, President Trump, SNAP, Trump Administration, White House, Work Requirement
By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
President Trump’s first major address to a joint session of Congress got a lot of attention. He told us what he is going to do. He reminded us what he has already done. He worked to sell his vision for the cou…
Read More
Tags: Agriculture, Budget, Congress, EPA, John R. Block, Obamacare, President Trump, Regulation, Tax Reform, Trade, Trump, Trump Administration
Happy 2017, everyone! 2016 has come and gone. Looking at 2016 in my rear-view mirror, here are a few matters that caught my personal attention.
As food and drug lawyers and corporate execs in regulated companies know (or definitely should know!),…
Read More
Tags: 2016, 21st Century Cures Act, Agriculture, Animal Drug, Arthur Y. Tsien, Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, Congress, Drug, Election Day, Feed, Feinstein Institute, Food, Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, FSIS, Genetically Engineered, Guidance, HIPAA, Law Firm, Lawyer, Mecadox, Medical Privacy, Misbranded Drug, Nutrition Facts, OFW Law, Park Doctrine, Rulemaking, Salmon, Sodium
Ever since the election we have been asked which Obama Administration regulations and executive actions are likely to be stricken by the new Trump Administration or the 115th Congress. Will the focus be on the rules issued since mid May of this yea…
Read More
Tags: Agriculture, Appropriations, Congress, Continuing Resolution, Donald Trump, Farm Bill, FDA, Food, Freedom Caucus, Labeling, Regulation, Roger R. Szemraj, SNAP, Trump Administration, USDA
Donald Trump’s “Contract with the American Voter” lists a number of actions that he plans to take in his first one hundred days in office. Among those actions is to “announce my intention to renegotiate the NAFTA or withdraw fr…
Read More
Tags: Attorney, Congress, Donald Trump, Edward J. Farrell, IEEPA, Import, International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Law Firm, Lawyer, Most Favored Nation, NAFTA, President, Tariff, Trade, USTR, World Trade Organization, WTO
