Good afternoon,

Registration is now open for OCP's second Rural Progress Summit! The Summit will take place Wednesday, June 7 through Friday, June 9 and will feature discussions addressing the most pressing issues facing rural America and innovative solutions from both policymakers and thought leaders.

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OCP STATEMENT ON APRIL JOBS REPORT

• The U.S. added 253,000 jobs in April, contributing to a total of 12.7 million jobs created under the Biden administration – 3.1 million of which were created by small businesses.
   
• Rural America gained 738,000 jobs in the last two years, but still have 215,000 fewer jobs as of 2022 than before the pandemic. The policies Democrats have proposed in Congress demonstrate progress towards recovery and stability, but the GOP's reckless proposal to tie the debt ceiling down to budget negotiations threatens default within weeks, a subsequent recession, and the loss of 780,000 jobs.
   
• Most Americans – across party lines – agree that the debt limit should be lifted separately from federal spending negotiations. Republicans are ignoring bipartisan consensus and seeking to slash vital funding for small businesses, veterans' programs, nutrition assistance, and other critical support that rural communities rely upon just as pandemic-era expanded Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid benefits come to an end.
   
• Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow pointed out that cuts would also negatively impact the Farm Bill's agricultural programs. Testimony in last week's Senate Agriculture hearing described how a default would greatly reduce producers' ability to pay off loans for crucial inputs like seeds and fertilizer.
   
• Today, President Biden is meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (D-Ky.) to discuss lifting the debt limit.

FORECAST FOR FOOD PRICES

• Adding to agricultural uncertainty, an impending El Niño, which dries the Central and Southern Plains – intensifying the prolonged drought – may decrease American agricultural production.
   
• A disruption in crop production could further spike food costs and exacerbate increasing food insecurity across the country. Intensifying climate change and more frequent extreme weather events – from droughts to floods – threaten agriculture practices and food supply chains throughout the country and across the globe.

IRA PLANTS SEEDS FOR SUSTAINABLE AG

• The U.S. has committed to achieving a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. The agriculture sector is a significant greenhouse gas emitter – farm-level production generates two-thirds of food companies' emissions.
   
• Fortunately, the Inflation Reduction Act incentivizes sustainable agriculture practices that will help abate emissions and make farms more climate resilient. The historic climate bill includes $19.5 billion for six agriculture programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). EDF and Deloitte detail how to activate different avenues of funding in their recent report.
   
• This week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will host the Agriculture Innovation Mission (AIM) for Climate Summit, featuring former Vice President Al Gore and agriculture ministers from a variety of counties, to discuss increasing food production while decreasing emissions in advance of COP28.
   

• Today, the House Ways and Means Committee held a field hearing on Trade in America: Securing Supply Chains and Protecting the American Worker on Staten Island, New York.
   
• Tomorrow, the Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing to nominate Xochitl Torres Small to be Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.
   
• Also tomorrow, the House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development and the Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion will hold a joint hearing on the Future of Digital Assets: Measuring the Regulatory Gaps in the Digital Asset Market.
   
• On Thursday, the House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture, and Horticulture will hold a hearing focusing on stakeholder perspectives on agricultural trade.
   

• Last week, OCP board member and Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels' bill to eliminate the state overtime tax – and put money back in hard-working Alabamians' pockets – passed the House with unanimous support.

• OCP founder and former North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp appeared on CNBC this morning to preview President Biden and Congressional leadership's debt limit meeting, and will appear on CNBC's Last Call this evening for a post-meeting reaction. Tune in tonight.
   

• Roll Call: Senate Agriculture leaders differ on shifting funds to farm bill

• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Agriculture leaders urge a stronger farm safety net at U.S. Senate farm bill hearing

• Agri-Pulse: Rural bankers ask for tax exemptions at Senate Ag hearing
   
• KGOU: Another relief program's end returns some Oklahomans to food insecurity
   
• MPR News: 'Are we worth support?': Rural Minnesota papers face challenges, community loses
   
• The Hill: Rural housing crunch 'ripe and ready' for legislative fix, lawmakers say
   
• Urban Institute: Housing and Human Services Programs Aren't Meeting Rural Renters' Needs

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