Omnibus bill passed without full support
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MONTANA — The Federal government passed the 2016 Omnibus Bill Dec. 18 totaling $1.1 trillion to keep the government churning another year. An Omnibus Bill is passed every year by legislature and is a package of 12 appropriation committee’s spending bills that fund everything from the Department of Defense, to the Environmental Protection Agency, to funding for research. The bill is more than 2,000 pages, complex, and is passed by a one-time vote, which means there is often little time to debate single aspects of the bill and their policy riders.
The House passed the bill 316-113, with 150 Republicans supporting the measure and 95 opposed. Among Democrats, 166 voted for the legislation and 18 voted against it.
Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke voted in favor of the bill. He supported the bill’s funding of a strong national defense, lifting the ban on exporting crude oil, reauthorization of the Land Water Conservation Fund and the support of PILT (PILT is a Department of Interior initiative that helps rural communities make up tax revenue lost due to untaxable public lands, which Lake County is not a part of).
“This massive bill is more than 2,000 pages. This is no way to govern a nation. Members of Congress received the text of the bill in the middle of the night with less than 72 hours to read it before voting,” said Zinke in a Dec. 18 press release.
Following the House’s approval of the bill, the US Senate quickly approved the Bill 65-33. However, both of Montana’s Senators voted against its passage.
In a press release, Rep. Senator Steve Daines explained what he liked about the bill and what ultimately made him vote against it.
“I am pleased to see that several Montana priorities I worked for were included in this final package — a three-year reauthorization of Land Water and Conservation Fund, a lifting of the oil export ban and permanent tax relief provisions for Montana families, farmers, tribes and small businesses,” Daines wrote. “However, this same bill fails to address critical wildfire funding challenges facing the Forest Service and does nothing to secure much-needed reforms to the way our forests are managed. And it includes CISA — a controversial cyber security bill that threatens Montanans’ privacy and civil liberties. It’s irresponsible for Washington to continue increasing government spending and our national debt, while doing nothing to secure necessary savings and long-overdue reforms to Washington’s broken culture.”
Democratic Senator Jon Tester was also one of 33 who voted against the bill. He said that it was a tough vote and the bad outweighed the good in the legislation. He felt there were a lot of good things in the bill for veterans for which he was proud of. Tester said some of the main reasons he opposed the bill besides cost was because the bill didn’t address the Forest Service’s increasing budget issue, because the bill didn’t include permanent reauthorization and full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and because it did not include campaign finance reform.
“There are many things in this bill that I like, many things that I fought for and even wrote myself. There are things that aren’t in this bill that should have been, but instead they got sidelined. Then there is also some crap in here, garbage that should have been tossed out, but wasn’t. But when I look at the whole package, my biggest concern is that this bill saddles our kids and grandkids with over $680 billion in additional debt,” said Jon Tester in Dec. 18 press release from his website.
Noteworthy provisions from the bill that may affect Montana’s agricultural sector:
—Country of Origin Labeling (COOL): Repealed In 2002 the Country of Origin Labeling was signed into law. This meant that all beef, lamb, and pork must have what country they were raised and slaughtered in clearly on the label. In 2008, some of the requirements were expanded to include fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts. This could have an important impact on agricultural producers in Montana and Lake County.
—Funding made available for food safety education: The Food and Drug Administration is in the process of modernizing food safety regulations that affect everyone from Montana meat, dairy and vegetable producers to local food processors; funding for training and outreach is maintained.
—Increased funding made available for sustainable agriculture research and education. This will help fund farmer led research projects that focus that sustainability.
—Renews last year’s funding increase for direct farm loans. This means there is $1.5 billion available for farm ownership loans and $1.252 billion for farm operating loans for 2016.
—No funding included in bill for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Accounts. This was a program designed to help beginning farmers and ranchers to finance new operations. The average age of America’s farmers is 57.
