In the past month, Congress transitioned to new leadership in the House of Representatives, while both chambers continued their work on a busy agenda for the remainder of 2015. With Congress hoping to wrap up work for the year in mid-December, the House and Senate are focusing on the budget and keeping the government funded, as well as on numerous legislative issues, including some that are important to dairy.

Speaker of the House

“While the industry was sad to say goodbye to John Boehner, the former Speaker of the House and certainly a good friend of dairy, we welcome the new Speaker, Paul Ryan, who hails from the great dairy state of Wisconsin and knows our industry very well,” said Dave Carlin, IDFA senior vice president of legislative affairs and economic policy.

What Lies Ahead?

Over the next few weeks, Congress will attempt to pass legislation that addresses a number of pressing policy issues, including many that are important to the dairy industry.

IDFA expects that Congress will work hard to bring to closure the reauthorization of the child nutrition programs, as well as a federal highway bill that includes transportation provisions. Food labeling continues to be a front-burner issue as Congress is still considering federal labeling guidelines for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and deciding the future of country-of-origin labeling (COOL) requirements.

“There’s a lot that members of Congress need to do but not much time to do it,” Carlin said. “We will continue to advocate for legislation that is important to our industry and will work closely with all IDFA members who are engaging in the policy and political process as the year comes to a close.”

For more information, contact Carlin at dcarlin@idfa.org.