March 15th, 2019
Members,
The political noise within our country’s capitol continues to grow. On Thursday the Senate held two votes which could force President Trump to remove the cap from his veto pen which he has yet to use since he took office. One vote pertains to the Yemeni Civil War and the other to the issue over the National Emergency issued in regard to border security. While both votes are important I know the attention turns to the latter of the two.
The first thing some of you will say is, why would Republicans in the Senate vote against a national emergency issued by a Republican president? The answer is really quite simple. The three branches of government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial) are always reluctant to see another branch exceed in taking more power than they believe the Constitution originally deemed. In this instance, the Republican Senators in opposition of the President believe the Executive Branch is taking more power in declaring a national emergency than they should. This doesn’t necessarily mean that these Senators disagree with the President’s stance on border security, but rather his strategy. When asked about the Senate Republican’s opposition to his national emergency Mr. Trump commented that “he had been assured that the move was completely constitutional and legal.” While this is true, it does not mean that Congress has to go along for the ride.
Now to the two topics you all are most interested in I’m sure: trade and disaster. The champions for agriculture inside the Beltway continue to say that both issues will be resolved sooner rather than later. The Senate is supposedly going to bring the proposed disaster bill to the floor the last week of this month. We would hope that the House will then take up the said bill and pass it swiftly as well. Any modifications to the WHIP program will be done via the office of Secretary Perdue rather than legislatively. As for trade, the ball is in Mr. Trump’s court rather than in Congress’s. It is my speculation that we will see a Chinese - U.S. deal sooner rather than later. Reason for this thought is that the Chinese economic numbers are reading the worst they have in over a decade and here in the U.S. Mr. Trump is really needing a win to brag about on the road to 2020, which unfortunately is already here, but I digress.
Locally, the GPA is full steam ahead. We have passed our one year mark from our initial conversation which led to what is now the Georgia Producer’s Alliance. Yesterday I updated our membership list and we are officially at 100 paid entity members. At best guess this would equate to 400 – 500 votes (most entities consist of multiple members). In my opinion this is an incredible accomplishment and I’m very proud that we’ve been able to reach this milestone in 12 months. I hope that we can look back in another 12 months at 200 + members. As we’ve said all the while, our voice, our message, and our narrative carries MUCH greater weight as our numbers grow.
As we move into the end of the month I will be sending out annual statements for those whose membership renewals are due. We appreciate your support and we encourage you to reach out with questions or concerns.
-Trey