Farm Groups Begin Lame-Duck TPP Push

Farm Groups are beginning a final push for action on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement in the lame-duck session of Congress, but the uphill climb is getting steeper. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said this week he wouldn’t be holding a vote on TPP until Donald Trump takes office. Texas Republican Kevin Brady, House Ways and Means Chair, said Trump would be the one to determine the way forward. The Hagstrom Report says a spokesman for U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman called it, “Republicans playing politics with TPP. It’s all about Donald Trump and nothing else.” New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, the incoming Senate Minority Leader, told the Washington Post that TPP is “dead in the water.” The National Association of Wheat Growers is urging Congress to take action, noting that wheat growers rely on export markets to ease low prices. Since February, the average cash price for wheat has dropped from an unprofitable $4.90 a bushel to a disastrous $3.50 per bushel.