Washington Week Ahead: Lawmakers face budget deadline, food fusion takes center stage | 2022-11-26

Lawmakers resumed their lame duck session this week and face a looming deadline to avert a government shutdown, but they will also take some time to shine a spotlight on a proposed merger of supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons.

Congress has until December 16 to agree on a fiscal 2023 funding bill, otherwise the legislature must pass another rolling resolution to keep government funding going. The CR that has funded agencies at the FY22 level since the fiscal year began on October 1 expires on that date.

Negotiations between Democrats and Republicans were reportedly at a stalemate heading into Thanksgiving weekend. Roll Call reported that the Democratic chairs of the House and Senate Budget Committees, Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and retired Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, had begun writing a collective funding bill of their own.

The GOP’s takeover of the House of Representatives has given Republicans additional clout in the negotiations, as DeLauro is set to lose the appropriations chairman in January.

The proposed combination of Kroger and Albertsons will be the focus of a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights on Tuesday. Subcommittee chair Amy Klobuchar and Democratic colleagues have appealed to the Federal Trade Commission to review the merger, saying it raised “significant antitrust concerns.”

In 2015, the commission required Albertsons and Safeway to sell 168 stores as a condition of a merger between those companies.

Earlier this month, a Washington state court judge temporarily blocked a $4 billion payout from Albertsons to its shareholders ahead of the merger with Kroger. A second lawsuit challenging the dividend payment was filed in Washington, DC by the District of Columbia, California and Illinois. That complaint said the dividend “risks Albertson’s ability to compete during merger review with Kroger and other supermarkets in these and other states and disrupts the merger review process.”

Meanwhile, the Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday on the collapse of FTX, the cryptocurrency trading platform founded by San Bankman-Fried, a senior congressional Democrat aide.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam will be the sole witness at the hearing, titled Why Congress Needs to Act: Lessons Learned from the FTX Collapse. FTX filed for bankruptcy in October after allegations of mishandling of client funds.

Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and senior Republican John Boozman of Arkansas support legislation that would give the CFTC more powers to regulate digital assets.

Bankman-Fried testified before the House Committee earlier this year and later before the House Ag Committee.

CME Group CEO Terrence Duffy warned House Ag members in May that there could be “catastrophic” consequences for futures markets if the CFTC approved an FTX plan that allows clients to trade leveraged crypto at any time -Buy derivatives. Duffy said the proposal would exempt FTX from “well-established” US clearing rules and could “undermine” confidence in the US regulatory regime.

Also in Congress this week, the House of Representatives will vote on a resolution “condemning the use of hunger as a weapon of war and recognizing the impact of conflict on global food security and famine.” The measure, introduced by Rep. Sara Jacobs, DN.Y., is designed in part to highlight Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

“Putin has repeatedly armed food, blockaded Odessa and recently attacked the port throughout this war – even after a landmark grain deal was struck just the day before. But we also need to recognize that we can’t just sound the alarm and mobilize help and attention when and where humanitarian crises affect people who look like us,” Jacobs said during the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s consideration of the resolution.

“Around the world, millions are starving and suffering as a direct result of Putin’s unrelenting crusade for power.”

Elsewhere this week, the USDA will release its latest farm income forecast as well as its quarterly update on US farm trade.

In September, the ministry estimated that farmers’ net income this year would reach its highest level in a decade, owing to strong markets for crops and livestock products. Net farm income is now forecast at $168.5 billion in 2022, an increase of $22.1 billion – or 15.1% from 2021 – and the highest level since 2012, adjusted for inflation.

Farm net income, a broader measure of profits, was forecast at $147.7 billion for calendar year 2022, up $7.3 billion, or 5.2%, from a year earlier.

Farm Net Income is based on cash receipts from farming, plus government payments and other farm receipts, less cash expenses. Farm Net Income also takes into account depreciation and changes in inventory values.

Here is a list of agricultural or rural events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EDT):

Monday 28 Nov

4 p.m. – USDA releases weekly crop progress report.

Tuesday 29th Nov

3:00 p.m. – USDA releases US agricultural trade data update

3:00 p.m. – Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Kroger-Albertson Merger, 226 Dirksen.

Wednesday 30 Nov

Thursday December 1st

8:30 am – USDA releases weekly export sales report.

10 am – Senate Agriculture Committee hearing with CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam on FTX collapse, G50 Dirksen.

11 am – USDA releases updated Farm Income Forecast.

Friday December 2nd

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