Coverage of the latest from Capitol Hill, including news on SNAP, safe food supply, drug advertising and more.
Congress took their usual August break without unified support for a single appropriations bill meaning that their current agenda, at press time, was focused on the usual wrangling and drama to avoid a partial government shutdown. With press time looming, I am wagering on a government shutdown followed by a stopgap funding bill as the Democrats and Republicans are far apart. Yet, House Republicans have also set their legislative sights on another partisan, filibuster-proof reconciliation bill before the end of the calendar year which is going to be a very tough accomplishment as the House GOP barely enacted the last such bill.
Fall is here and with the change of seasons, comes heightened legislative activity on Capitol Hill. Following are a number of other issues on tap that you may find of interest.
Farm Bill Update
The all important farm bill, which you should be familiar with by now because I’ve written about it so often, has tremendous ramifications on the whole food chain, from farm to fork, and is one of the most important and far-reaching pieces of legislation the Congress considers. The farm bill is re-written every five years by Congress and impacts many federal departments and agencies, the food industry, and consumers alike. The 2023 farm bill is now two years behind schedule as the version enacted in 2018 has undergone extension after extension because Congress could not get their act together to pass a new farm bill in 2023 when the 2018 version expired. So, we are again at crunch time as lawmakers must enact a new farm bill or extend the 2018 farm bill once more before an upcoming December 31, 2025 deadline in order to avoid a shutdown of key federal farm, nutrition, and food and agricultural programs.
The only good news on a new farm bill is that a number of House and Senate members are still aiming to enact what they now call a “skinny” farm bill before the end of this calendar year. Not willing to let Congress kick the can down the road again, powerful farm and food trade associations are now focusing on fly-ins to buttonhole members of Congress and also launching special public affairs efforts to get a new farm bill passed. We will see if their new game plan works to finally get a new farm bill, “skinny” or not, enacted into law.
A Boost To SNAP Benefits
House Democrats have introduced new legislation contained in several different bills that would undo the food aid cuts that were contained in the Big Beautiful Reconciliation Bill which you will recall was enacted by a slim margin before the August Congressional recess. While the Democrat-sponsored bills all face a difficult road to get through Congress, House and Senate Democrats want to revisit the way benefits are calculated for the country’s largest hunger program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Their goal is to increase the amount of aid families receive to purchase groceries.
The official name of the legislation is titled “The Closing the Meal Gap Act of 2025” and would direct the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use a different method than it currently uses to set SNAP benefit amounts for needy individuals and families. According to Food Policy Tracker News, the change would allocate about $20 more per week to a family of four with two elementary-school-age children and also increase benefits for some SNAP recipients dealing with high medical or housing costs. Republicans have also recently pushed back on their explanations of the benefit takeaway changes contained in their Big Beautiful bill. Republicans say they no longer are describing the SNAP changes as “cuts” since they did not specifically reduce current benefit levels even though the changes will result in an estimated 2.7 million people losing benefits, according to Food Policy Tracker News. I say call it what you want but the poor will still be hurt.
Safe Food Supply
According to the Berman Report and new Gallup polling, the vast majority of Americans view their diet as either “somewhat healthy” (60 percent) or “very healthy” (24 percent), with six in 10 adults saying they pay attention to food warnings and other nutritional recommendations. Meanwhile, only 53 percent are confident in the federal government to keep the food supply “safe,” a record low. When parsed by political party, trust levels have fallen by 26 points among Democrats this year but increased by 12 points among Republicans. Interesting facts for your marketing folks.
SNAP EBT Transaction Fees
Heavyweight trade associations such as FMI – the Food Industry Association, the National Grocers Association (NGA), and the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), earlier last month sent a powerful letter to all members of Congress to discuss SNAP EBT fees. The letter was signed by over 1,000 food businesses and organizations calling on Congress to protect customers and retailers by prohibiting additional fees from being levied for SNAP electronic benefit transfer (EBT) transactions.
The letter requested that the bipartisan “Ensuring Fee-Free Benefit Transaction (EBT) Act” now before Congress be enacted in a multi-year farm bill or other vehicle this year. The goal is to thus permanently prohibit states and state contractors from levying processing and other related fees from a state’s side of a SNAP EBT transaction onto SNAP authorized retailers and their merchant processors.
To further explain the need for the proposed Act, NACS’s public statement stated that “Congress must act quickly to pass the EBT Act and give retailers the certainty they need to keep serving SNAP families without added costs. Processing fees on EBT transactions have long been prohibited and reversing that protection would hand windfall profits to payment processors while driving up the cost of food.”
Standardizing Food Date Labels
Several Congressional members have reintroduced bipartisan legislation called the “Food Date Labeling Act” that seeks to end consumers’ confusion about food label expiration and “best by” dates, and help reduce food waste in the U.S., according to an item in Meatingplace News. The Food Date Labeling Act would standardize terminology for food date labels. I reported in my commentary in January that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and USDA had announced a joint Request for Information (RFI) to standardize labeling when terms such as “Sell By,”” Use By” and “Best By” are used but apparently several members of Congress want to move this matter down the road with much more expediency so they drafted this new legislation.
Specifically, the bill would require “BEST If Used By” dates to communicate to consumers that the quality of the food product may begin to deteriorate after that date, and a “USE By” date to communicate the end of the estimated period of shelf life, after which the product should not be consumed. Under the bill, food manufacturers can decide which of their products carry a quality date or a discard date. It also allows food to be sold or donated after its labeled quality date, said Meatingplace News.
Drug Advertising To Be Closely Scrutinized
Several months ago, I wrote about Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s planned efforts to curtail drug advertising. Actions speak louder than words as HHS and the FDA have just recently announced sweeping reforms to rein in misleading direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisements. The FDA has mailed out thousands of letters warning pharmaceutical companies to remove misleading ads and the agency also issued nearly 100 cease-and-desist orders to firms with deceptive ads.
In addition to enforcing existing law, the FDA is initiating rulemaking to close the “adequate provision” loophole created in 1997, which drug companies have used to conceal critical safety risks in broadcast and digital ads, fueling inappropriate drug use and eroding public trust. In an FDA press release, it was stated that “the Trump Administration and HHS Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring transparency, accountability, and trust in health care. By closing loopholes and stepping up enforcement, the FDA will protect patients, safeguard public health, and hold he pharmaceutical industry accountable.”
Standards Of Identity For Food Products
The FDA has announced that the agency is revoking 52 food Standards of Identity after concluding they are obsolete and unnecessary. The 52 standards are for canned fruits and vegetables, dairy products, baked goods, macaroni products, and other foods. Food Standards were first created in 1939 to ensure honesty in the ingredients and production processes of foods that are consistent with what consumers expect and to prevent food fraud. As an example, if you processed ketchup, the finished product had to contain certain key ingredients to thus be officially labeled ketchup. Why now the revocation? Because advances in food science, agriculture, and production practices and additional consumer protections have made many of these older standards unnecessary and obsolete.
Barry Scher is a principal with the public policy firm of Policy Solutions LLC and a retired Giant Food executive. Prior to retirement after 45 years at Giant, he served as vice president of public affairs. He can be reached at [email protected].
