As Spring Arrives, Washington Policymakers and Corn Grower Leaders Prepare for the Year Ahead

By Brooke S. Appleton

March is an important month in Washington. It’s the month that cherry blossoms bloom to the delight of city residents and tourists alike, and many outdoor activities, such as marathons, take off, shutting down city streets on the weekends.

This month is also a time when congressional and administration officials begin to unveil their plans for the year ahead. We saw the beginnings of this on March 7, when President Biden gave his State of the Union speech. The president released his proposed federal budget for FY 2025 several days later, even as Congress and the administration are at an impasse on parts of this fiscal year’s budget.

If the tone and tenor of the president’s address and the Republican response to that address are any indication of what we should expect in the year ahead, we should all fasten our seatbelts because it is going to be a bumpy ride.

The president, who has trailed in polls against his opponent, former President Donald J. Trump, gave nothing short of a campaign-style speech designed to rally his base and win over independents. Conspicuously absent were the usual olive branches or allusions to working together.

The speech was a reminder that we’re not just in an ordinary election year; we’re in an election year that will be unusually divisive. I have written at length in previous columns about how the divisions in this city are presenting all kinds of impediments to advancing legislation. We can expect those challenges to grow exponentially in 2024.

This is a concern for farmers, who have numerous priorities before Congress, including farm bill reauthorization, passage of legislation ensuring year-round access to higher blends of ethanol during the summer months and advancement of the Next Generation Fuels Act.

To penetrate all the noise in the air in Washington, corn advocates are using ingenuity. Just as the president and members of Congress are setting their agenda for the year ahead, we’re reminding these policymakers of our objectives for 2024.