Often, the next best thing to Congress being out of session is it being bogged down. That has been the case with the massive 2,400-page reconciliation bill President Joe Biden has referred to as “Build Back Better.” However, much of this bill includes things America has never done or considered “better” before, like government-regulated centers for preschoolers, climate change charging stations or making present energy sources more expensive, when future energy sources are unavailable or prohibitively expensive. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said high gas prices “make a stronger case” for investing in renewables.
The bill has created rifts between Democrat wings, as well as with Republicans. For some years, taxpayers have been able to deduct state and local taxes (SALT) from their federal income tax liabilities. That has been a great benefit to taxpayers in states with very high tax rates, like New York, New Jersey and California—states referred to as blue (Democrat-run) states. The 2017 tax reforms first attempted to eliminate that deduction because lower tax red state taxpayers were, in effect, subsidizing blue state taxpayers. A compromise limited the SALT deduction to $10,000. In the House-passed version of the reconciliation bill, the SALT deduction ceiling increased to $80,000.
Senate Conservatives are opposed to that high ceiling. But some Democrats are also furious because they are helping the “rich” at the expense of the poor and middle class. After all, poor and middle class folks would not benefit from tax credits far and above what many of their incomes are, much less tax bills.
Congress needs to handle the debt ceiling authorization by roughly Dec. 15, and Republicans have said they won’t help the Democrats do it. They wish to call attention to Democrat spending sprees by highlighting our growing national debt.
One ploy to get the debt ceiling passed is to tie it to some other must-pass legislation. But some on both sides are not happy with attaching it to the National Defense Authorization Act. That bill is usually not too controversial, but it has been stalled for some weeks, clogging the congressional calendar.
The Christmas holidays might come and go before the reconciliation bill is thrashed out and considered. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has not even committed to voting to bring the bill up for debate, much less supporting it in its present form. Manchin has expressed concerns about another few trillion dollars of government spending boosting inflation, as well as the federal family leave program, some of the climate change programs and the high SALT deduction. He prefers holding the whole package off until next year. Without his vote, if the Republicans hold firm, the bill goes nowhere.
While the price tag on the reconciliation bill has been pared “down” to a supposed $1.75 trillion, independent projections eliminating the budget gimmicks or fudges have given cost estimates in the $4-5 trillion range.
There have also been attempts to get a resolution or amendment to some bill to defund Biden’s vaccine mandate.
While progress is slow, there are some things the livestock industry needs action on. We need the Livestock Mandatory Reporting reauthorized. Many folks would like to see Rep. Dusty Johnson’s (R-SD-At large) Cattle Contract Library bill passed. The bill provides a lot of market transparency but asks for a lot more information from packers than just sample cattle contracts. It would require a major information gathering and disclosure effort from the packers.
Elsewhere, California’s government is allowing a brief comment period on proposed changes to its regulation to micromanage the dimensions of hen cages, veal pens and hog enclosures. Known as Proposition 12, efforts to block its implementation have fallen on deaf ears in the courts. Any reasonable interpretation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution would tell us that one state can’t set production standards and refuse entry and sale of products from other states, but that is what California is set to do in January.
For example, much of California’s pork and bacon comes from Iowa, but the great majority of pork products produced in Iowa will not be allowed to be sold in California anymore. Nor will most pork produced in other states. The precedent and the disruption to livestock producers in 49 states and restaurants and grocery stores in California will be enormous. If it can be done to pork, veal and chickens, beef could be next.
But the voters of California have spoken, just like they did making thefts under $950 of no legal concern, enabling the smash-and-grab crime spree wreaking havoc there now. — Steve Dittmer, WLJ columnist
(Steve Dittmer is the author of the Agribusiness Freedom Foundation newsletter. Views in the column do not necessarily represent the views or opinions ofWLJor its editorial staff.)
