Events don’t stop work of NCBA staff in Washington

WASHINGTON — The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has adapted to new ways of engaging with the members of the U.S. government.

“It has been quite a period of time to be in Washington, D.C.,” said Ethan Lane, NCBA vice president of government affairs. “First due to the coronavirus and then due to the civil unrest in our nation’s capital.”

Typically, Lane said during a NCBA webinar on Jan. 14, he works at the organization’s office on Pennsylvania Avenue.

“But we are coming instead from Virginia because the city has been locked down in anticipation of the inauguration,” he said. “Everything from the White House to the Capitol and all the buildings in between are in a security bubble.”

Although the COVID-19 pandemic altered many things in 2020, it did not stop the work of NCBA staff in Washington.

“We are one of the only trade associations that stayed open throughout the pandemic,” Lane said. “We only had to stay home twice because of a risk of someone coming in contact with COVID-19, and we’ve had to shut down the D.C. office for safety reasons five times over the year.”

There are currently a lot of moving pieces in Washington, Lane said.

“There’s always a lot of change at the beginning of a new presidential term, but this is a hyper version of that because there is more change than we usually expect and a lot more committee turnover,” he said.

During the first 100 days of the Biden administration, Lane said, there will be a focus on the pandemic.

“The Biden team is promising a renewed engagement on that front,” he said. “We’re hearing they plan to spend a lot of time on the pandemic response, as well as an additional stimulus at $1.9 trillion they are proposing for COVID relief, which will need to move through Congress.”

Health care is not a new issue for Democrats.

“It is something we expect they will return to, so we expect a renewed, robust discussion,” Lane said.

“Some of the gains we made over the last four years on the tax front we expect will come back up for discussion,” he said. “That’s an area we’re going to have to engage strongly to make sure they understand the negative consequences to cattle producers and landowners across the country of some of the tax changes they may be complicating.”

One of those areas will likely be the estate tax.

“We expect they will look for ways to rebalance those taxes that’s more in line with the Democratic platform,” Lane said.

“Through all of this you’re going to hear a lot about undertones of climate change and not just in the areas you expect,” he said. “We’re going to see references throughout the federal system, which is something the Biden team has made very clear.”

All the key nominees for the new cabinet have been named.

“There’s a real sense of a callback to the Obama administration,” Lane said. “There are a lot of Obama alumni in the mix of the transition team and the cabinet picks with the most notable, Tom Vilsack, named to rejoin the role of secretary of agriculture.”

“President-elect Biden is looking to people who understand the federal system and regulatory process and don’t have a learning curve when they get to Washington,” he said. “He chose people who will be able to hit the ground running on day one.”

NCBA anticipates the transition process will move quickly.

“Because of the knowledge of the system and the deep relationships on Capitol Hill, the nominees that are not contentious, like Tom Vilsack, won’t receive drawn-out battles,” Lane said. “We expect Biden to have a fully-staffed cabinet quickly.”

In the past, NCBA has worked with Katherine Tai, who is nominated as the new U.S. trade representative.

“We also had a good relationship with the Obama administration on trade issues,” Lane said. “They are going to look at some of the issues differently than the Trump administration and there will be push and pull on tariffs.”

Michael Regan has been nominated as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

“We’re hearing from the folks in North Carolina that he is a guy who is open to talking with agriculture,” Lane said. “We’ve already had successful conversations with him during the transition, so we anticipate having a good working dialog with Regan.”

50-50 Split

For the 117th Congress, the U.S. Senate is equally divided between Republicans and Democrats.

“In the situation where the Senate is divided, the vice president serves as the tiebreaker,” said Tanner Beymer, NCBA director of government affairs and market regulatory policy. “So, the Democrats will have control even though the Senate is evenly split.”

Therefore, Beymer said, it is likely there will be some new committee chairs in the Senate.

“Everything in the Senate is done by seniority, so the longer you’ve been there, the more power you wield,” he said.

“Senator Debbie Stabenow has a high seniority rank in the Senate, so we expect her to be chair of the agricultural committee,” Beymer said.

“For the House of Representatives, the Democrats maintained the control of that chamber, but their margin has dwindled,” he said. “Now there are 211 Republicans, 222 Democrats and two vacancies.”

One of the vacancies is for a representative in Louisiana.

“There will be a special election on March 20, and we anticipate a Republican hold,” Beymer said. “The other vacancy is for a New York race that is down to the wire and we probably won’t see resolution until Jan. 22 so the result for the House will probably be a Democratic advantage of nine or 10 seats.”

NCBA predicts David Scott will chair the House Agriculture Committee.

“Scott is a good friend of our industry, so we are looking forward to working with him,” Beymer said.

Working Together

“We do have folks that are allies that we can engage with and we’re going to have to continue to build those relationships that we’ve had in the past to find common ground and paths forward,” Lane said.

“We feel with tightened majority on both sides of the aisle, that creates a lot of opportunity for us to find common ground with members,” he said.

“We’ve always looked for cosponsors of both Republicans and Democrats because that gives you the best chance for moving legislation,” Lane said. “That has never been more important than it will be for the 117th Congress.”