 Yeah. So I guess we're live and good morning everybody. This is the Senate Agricultural Committee on Friday, the 22nd maybe or first, I don't know, lose track of the days here. But we're going to be talking this morning with our congressional delegation people. We have Tom Berry with us, Erica Campbell. I don't know if Ryan's on yet or not. Andrew, are you representing one of the groups? Are you on to listen? Good morning. Andrew is my DC colleague. He's the one that gets the stuff done. Yeah. Well, it's good to have somebody that'll get the stuff done, right? But I'd like to have the committee introduce themselves so that we'll all know each other. We do have one new member on the Senate Ed committee. So Mr. Vice Chairman, would you like to start? Be happy to. Good morning everybody. Chris Pearson from the Chittenden District. Glad to have you here. Hi all, I'm Anthony Polin of Washington County. Ryan Colomore representing the Rutland District. Welcome. We also have Corey Parrant from St. Albans, Franklin County, and I'm Corey. He's speechless. My video went out. Sorry about that, but Corey Parrant from Franklin County. And I'm Bobby Shar from Essex, Orleans County. Well, it's good to have you folks with us this morning. And I think before we get started, on behalf of the committee, I'd like to thank you guys for being here and thank your bosses for all the hard work that they've been doing through this pandemic to help us Vermonters out. And it certainly has been a great help to the state of Vermont, and our local citizens as well as our businesses around the state. You know, we've had farm equipment dealerships in and of spoken feed dealers. And they've all been very grateful for the financial help that has come from you folks in Washington passed down to the states. And then we had, you know, the two ag committees set up a program for agricultural people. So their accounts receivable have been halfway decent and their sales have been pretty stable. So it's really made a big difference to our ag community as well as all of our communities. So with that, we'd like to, you know, we wanted to get you in to both thank you for what you've done in the past and give us a little overview on what you think may occur in the future and move forward. I don't know if there's any particular order that you want to go in. If some of you have time restraints, if we've got an hour. So but if there is not none, I would start with Tom and and then go to Erica and then to Ryan. So I don't know if any of the committee members have anything to say before we get started or not. If if not, I'll turn it over to you, Tom. Thank you. I think what we'll do is sort of introduce ourselves and just a little bit of 30,000 foot perspective on where we are at the start of the Congress and then we can take a deeper dive into some of the issues of interest. Again, Tom Barry here, I handle the state outreach side of Senator Leahy's agriculture environment and energy portfolio. And my colleague Andrew can introduce himself. He takes the DC side of things. And I'm sure everybody on the call is familiar with Senator Leahy's current role. But, you know, sort of where things stand right now. Very obviously we have a new incoming majority in the Senate and a new administration we're working with with the inauguration of President Biden. And so sort of big picture what that means. Senator Leahy has been on the Senate, the Senate Agriculture Committee beginning in 1975. And I expect he will stay there for this next 117th Congress. His other committees are judiciary and appropriations. And his leadership role in this Congress is as the chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. And we can get more into what that means as we have our conversation today. And he's also assumed the role of President Pro Tem of the Senate, which goes to the senior member of the majority party. And that role is to some extent ceremonial. He is, you know, sits as the president of the Senate and is in the line of succession to the presidency after the Speaker of the House. So it's important role automatically makes him part of the Senate leadership team. And so, you know, the senator seniority has never been greater. His priorities will remain, you know, strong on the areas that he's always represented on for agriculture. He's seen as a dairy leader in the Senate. He wrote the Organic Standards Act, et cetera. So, you know, we can take a deeper dive into what some of that looks like. The other, you know, what we know about the change in administration, of course, is that Secretary Vilsack has been nominated to return as secretary. We knew him well as President Obama's ex-secretary. And in that role, he was in Vermont twice. Early on, he came and attended the St. Albans Dairy Cooperative Annual Meeting, as well as the NOFA Annual Meeting. And then he came back a few years later to announce additional funding for clean water and conservation programs as we really, as the state began to tackle those issues. So Andrew may know more or Erica about the schedule for confirmation hearings. But with that, it's sort of that's who I am and where we are with the new Congress, the new administration. I'm happy to hand it to Erica. Yeah. Thank you, Tom. Welcome, Erica. Thanks, Senator Starr. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for having us today. Erica Campbell, I work for Senator Sanders as outreach rep and policy advisor, agriculture and nutrition is my main area as well as small business and economic development. And I won't say too much for my introduction. I'm looking forward to kind of getting into giving you an update today. I also covered nutrition issues for the senator. So looking forward to giving you a little update on that today and some of the small business provisions and how they've impacted agriculture in Vermont, as well as some of the new changes in the recent bill and how that will may look for agriculture businesses accessing it. This time around, I just given giving a quick overview. Senator Sanders is like is going to be chairing the budget committee. And that as a rank, you know, he's been ranking member in the minority for that as a as a chair is going to really take on a new role and new prominence, especially given the way in Washington that it's been prominent to have budget reconciliation as part of the process. So to move bills forward. So certainly he is very willing and to use that to move important things forward, especially to address our coronavirus and our health crisis and economic crisis and in a role in recovery, infrastructure development, et cetera, moving forward. So we will see what this session holds and yeah, look, that's look forward to giving you a little update today. Yeah. And Ryan. Yeah, hi. Thanks for having us. Ryan McLaren work for Congressman Peter Welch here in Vermont in agriculture. Obviously, I also my portfolio also includes transportation, education, labor and first responder issues. And yeah, we'll dive into some of the details here in a minute. But Peter currently serves on energy and commerce, government oversight and reform and the House Select Committee on intelligence, which is kind of rarries on three committees. But so he's got a lot of work, but we're looking forward to working with the new administration and hopeful, not only that we have more in terms of COVID relief here in the near future, but we can move forward on some of the more pressing issues like climate change and some of the other things that have been pent up for the last few years. So yeah, I'll leave it there. Let Andrew introduce himself and we'll dive into some of the details. Yeah. Welcome Andrew. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Andrew Barenberg with Senator Leahy's office, as Tom said, I am his counterpart in the Senator's DC office, working on a range of natural resource issues, but agriculture included. I will just briefly touch on the process that we anticipate going forward for Secretary Vilsack's confirmation. We are in a bit of a limbo here. Well, leaders McConnell and Schumer negotiate an organizing resolution for the Senate. So technically, Democrats do not yet share the Ag Committee, which we've not been able to set a date for a hearing. Though, Senator Leahy was able to meet with Secretary Vilsack via Zoom, of course, last week and was able to reiterate his priorities for Vermont, including dairy, including the importance of nutrition programs to our state. Secretary Vilsack is, of course, well aware of Vermont priorities having worked with the delegation over the eight year period during the Obama administration. So looking forward to him getting into place. I'll also just briefly mention announced this morning. The Biden administration announced a few nutrition related executive orders, most notably expanding the pandemic EBT program by as much as 15%. So although it remains to be seen the pace at which Congress can pass another coronavirus stimulus. And of course, Biden has put his preferred plan out at $1.9 trillion. We certainly are starting to see some of the quick executive actions that that they're able to take to try and rework some of the formulas and try and get as much support out to to folks who need nutrition assistance as quickly as possible. So hopefully we'll see more of that as it comes. Well, that all that all sounds good. And we our committee has been charged by our leadership here in Vermont to work on food security, nutrition for all, you know, from school children to our senior citizens. And, you know, it's really been the money that's flowed to us so far has been very helpful in making sure everybody has been bad and cared for a couple of issues in the nutrition area that we've talked about. And we've heard from our constituents in regards to, and I don't know, you know, if it's going to be able to happen, but it's out of Washington where it would have to have. We've had a quite a few farmers and and rule groups ask about trying to move to whole milk and schools school lunch programs to try to get away from, you know, the skim milk or whatever they're using 2% boost that up and the other big issue that would that we've heard about that would really make a difference in Vermont is a universal meals program. And, you know, we, we've worked on that, trying to do it on a statewide basis. But financially, we've never been in a position here in Vermont, or accounts haven't to be able to pull that off. But during this past year, with the help of what you folks have been getting done in in Washington is basically work into a universal meals program where all kids at school schools at the age of one are from K K through or preschool through 18 years of age, eat for free and And it's, it's really made a major difference for for folks. So I don't know if any of the other committee members have something they want to throw in here or not, but we'll, if not, we'll get right to the program, Corey. Yeah, I just want to reiterate the whole milk. I've only been Franklin County Senator going into my second term but in both my campaigns and in my time in the house before that, you know, just even symbolically having the ability to To have whole milk in the schools is critical to our farmers and, you know, you look a lot of communities where these kids are drinking whole milk at home because they're producing the milk and they go into their school and are being told it's not nutritious forum or You know, it's not great. I think that that causes an issue. And then, you know, you know, I'm really excited, you know, with the shifts in Washington And where our federal delegation is, I think, you know, we punch what we've always punch well above our weight, but even even more so now You know, we look at what DFA and some of the other groups have done on cutting back on production, you know that 15% that's hurt a lot of our farmers and Folks are being creative in Franklin County with bottling their own milk and finding resources, but anything, you know, that we can do to help them kind of Localize some of their production and take some of the surplus milk that can't go to the co-ops, if you will, that, you know, they can do some cool stuff where they think would would be helpful and just to have on your radar. Yep. Thank you, Corey. Sharon Pearson. Yeah, thank you. Just In a related ag thing, but not very specifically, we've been looking at how to boost school meals and shift to universal and in particular, try to get more local food into schools and what part of that challenge is unquestionably the complexity that the federal government puts on schools and The agency of Ed does a really good job trying to navigate between the federal government and local schools and I gather that the Republicans have been talking in recent years about a block grant kind of idea. For states and to me, there's, you know, I don't I don't I understand some of the concerns about that. But what I guess I wonder if it suggests that there is maybe some way to meet so that we get continue to get money in, hopefully, maybe a little bit more money to support school nutrition, but also greater flexibility. I mean, it is It is truly wild what the schools have to go through and we've just scratched the surface, but I'm not sure it could be more complex. So any any help you could you could give our schools and the state generally to Have a little more flexibility with some of that money would be greatly appreciated. Tom, do you want me to jump in with a nutrition update. And then we can move to add just to since we're sort of been on the topic and then we can kind of move off of it and jump into CFAP and other other things and I can I can wrap up maybe later with the small business PPP idle provisions. Does that sound okay. Okay, great. So the Vermont delegation. All three offices have been working incredibly closely this past year with the state agencies DCF Department of Health and agency agency of Education. And agency of agriculture on all of these nutrition provisions Vermont was incredible how quickly it pivoted and Developed plans and used every possible waiver for to have the flexibility to get it get food out to Vermonters and it's really it is really remarkable how well We did that in the state and you also used your coronavirus relief funds incredibly well everyone needs is a phenomenal model across the country. So kudos to that. Thank you. So just a quick update on what kind of came into Vermont in 2020 we had About a normal year with snap almost $100 million in 2020, which is is actually not much more than a normal year. Interestingly, I think some people didn't Because of their unemployment income didn't that boost they they actually fell off snap. There was a change in this newest that that they that extra $300 boost won't actually count. So that that will be helpful. But we had an an an emergent an emergency allotment and that brought in another $10 million into the state to families on snap. And we also had as Andrew mentioned the pandemic EBT program. So really unique thing that went out to school kids Who Who are either on a universal meals in a universal meals school or Are free and reduced hot lunch Eligible and that was $15 million to those families that received EBT cards and a lot of those families actually aren't on snap. So it's really just a really incredible thing to help families get through School meals. Again, they pivoted. They were amazing. They did to go. They did the school bus routes. They used every waiver and flexibility. And in the most recent bill, there was a reimbursement increase because I think a lot of schools did have some extra costs that were Acute and cared and basically You know from the to go containers and all of that as well. As well Just on the school meals topic. Well, everyone was talking about universal meals Senator sanders Did introduce a bill last year with congresswoman omar. It's called the universal school meals bill and we are considering reintroducing it in this session this year this coming year and You know, there's also the child nutrition reauthorization and that would be sort of an opportunity Again to address things like whole milk And other nutrition requirements in school is the streamlining and the simplification of some of the programs. It's extremely honorous and Really cumbersome all these different programs from the summer to the after school to you know, the various types of ways that you can see e p and Way ways you can try to work in the universal meals Categorical eligibility the list goes on. It's complicated and so simplifying that in any way possible While we continue to work towards federally federally funded universal meals for for all for all all children. Yeah And that would be and we do have a local food food procurement Uh extra reimbursement worked into that bill So that's that's definitely on the table and and I would hope it would be if if Vermont moves forward with any kind of state legislation for that farmers to families that was the USDA program and Abby group got the first two contracts as you know, they had I think close to 600,000 boxes went out Of lots of local food to people the next two contracts were to Two different out of state companies and then the most recent round Another a new jersey company just got the bid And that will bring in another 15,000 boxes So it's it's kind of disappointing that we didn't get an in-state contractor But there will be some boxes and I think you probably are all aware the Vermont food bank Is running their own farmers to family program with their philanthropic dollars that they received That's about 20,000 boxes that are they're currently having go out through the about the um early march And I think yeah, I think I said that 20,000 boxes. I think for that Is there is there any way to control those contracts like I mean if if the abbey group had continued getting those um seems like it would have helped the employment in Franklin County and and basically all over Vermont to some extent plus Some of that produce that would have been locally Gathered rather than going to New Jersey or I mean That was a that was a you know a trump administration USDA decision. I know senator Leahy was working very hard on you know, ensuring that there was Fair bids and and it ended up coming, you know, and to especially try to get abbey group and brahman vendors um To be competitive and it ended up coming down to the lowest bidder and you know, a lot of these were just these big huge companies It was pretty pretty disappointing of a program. But you know, I think it's safe to say that um with the biden administration and uh the The democratically controlled senate that if we if this program continues, we will see changes with it I think there's a question of whether it will continue. We made the best of it in brahman but You know, I think it wasn't an easy program and put a lot of the burden on on the charitable food system And didn't really help a lot of small medium-sized farmers. So Uh So, yeah, so that was that I think that's the nutrition update. Um We also did see a wick increase Um caseload in brahman. So that was good. They the department of health did a really great job there Got just about every way were possible and uh continued to serve I think they had about an eight percent increase caseload Any questions from any of the members In regards, uh, just one quick one, uh in regards to the universal meals program You know, I I think it would be important If if you folks as you work on that and talk about it in dc if even if you can't cover The the whole bill because it it's very expensive um, you know, I think I think a state like brahman Would participate in a cost sharing program So if we got some money from You folks to get it going And then we states could opt in to help out And then the municipalities should you know They ought to have a little skin in the game as well. So You know local state and feds. I think could put together a pretty A pretty decent program where all our young people Would be fed without having to carry cash to school and and You know and all that so anyway, I just wanted to throw that out That's great to know um senator star and when uh, we reintroduce the bill. I'm happy to look take that into consideration and Share the bill with you if you want to take a look at it. Thank you. Yeah, be very interested so where Who's up next? um, I could I could touch briefly on that. Oh, sure. I was going to touch briefly on some of the dairy issues That you raised and that senator parent raised as well. Um so on On uh, whole milk in schools USDA did issue a few rules in the last few years to allow for flexibility on low-fat flavored milk in schools Frankly the last time that congress reauthorized The child nutrition reauthorization was 10 years ago now. Um, that help Healthy hungry free kids act Was passed in 2010 typically that's Reauthorized every five years So certainly overdue for A new look at those programs. Uh, the outgoing chairman of the senate agriculture committee pat roberts from kansas Made it his goal to get that done during the last congress, but uh, obviously with with plenty else going on I think the clock just ran out on that. Um, so certainly an issue and Um, we we've heard all the arguments. Um About getting whole milk into schools Uh, you know, my non expert opinion is that whole milk is is far better to drink and more delicious. Uh, and I think there's a certainly an argument About starting kids. Um, introducing them to milk By putting the best the best dairy foot forward, I guess um On the senator parent mentioned a lot of the very kind of Creative pivoting that a lot of dairy farmers in verman have had to do Certainly the the CFAT payments and the the state program particularly with all of its flexibility has helped Provide a bit of a a bridge and a cushion To allow for some of that creativity but one one additional program that I I want to mention is The northeast dairy business innovation center That the agency of agriculture recently announced That was a authorized in the 2018 farm bill with the help of senator lehi To to establish three regional centers across the country. Um, of course vermont applied Was successful in in landing that bid and since then Senator lehi has been able to increase the funding for that program to 20 million dollars a year 22 million dollars a year in the in the fy 21 bill And that's thus far has been divided equally among the three centers so that Certainly was in the works prior to the the beginning of the pandemic. Um, but but certainly couldn't Come any sooner and part of the intent of that program is to help dairy producers diversify their products reach new markets Things like rotational grazing it's a whole range and and now with um, you know At minimum six million dollars a year coming to vermont for for that specific purpose. I think that'll Both help farmers capitalize on the the creativity and pivoting that they've already done but also You know help help to expand that And increase their resilience to to the types of market disruptions that Now we've certainly seen before this pandemic, but reached new levels in the last year I are you all sad andrew Yes, excuse me. Thanks. I'll stop there kicking over to ryan maybe Yeah, um any questions for andrew, uh, that's fresh in your minds. Um But we'll we'll uh go on to ryan Or tom Maybe tom. Um for beauty what i i'd be had. Yeah, sure. Um Um You know, thank you. Thank you, uh senator star for uh, your recognition early on of of how important the federal support was You know, I can quickly summarize because there were a lot of programs. Um, I'll talk more about the direct payments to uh vermont agricultural producers This sets aside any small business programs or the nutrition programs like the uh The food box program, but through what we came to know as cfap one and cfap two As well as the uh, crf that were federal dollars that the vermont legislature got Involved with obviously y'all got pretty deeply involved in that and did a good job putting those out the door um The uh total and direct payments to vermont agricultural producers Among those three programs was, uh, 104 million dollars last year And in addition, although it wasn't corona relief, uh, the nrcs Put about 11 million dollars out the door in conservation funding to vermont farmers continuing their programs despite the pandemic and so in total among the crf the Um cfap and the nrcs equip program. There was about Uh about 115 million dollars that um Hit the ground in vermont, uh in payments direct payments to agricultural producers. So, uh, it was An unprecedented level of support at a very important time, uh, and uh The committee can be proud of your role in helping to put it out some of the usda Programs didn't roll out quite as quickly as we would have liked in the spring, but ultimately they got up and running where we are at this time, uh, is that the usda There was a a uh crown virus relief bill that was passed just before the end of the year In case you missed it. There was a lot going on and what with the election and other interesting things, but um, there was a A relief bill that was passed and and that among other things Adds funding to the uh cfap program and late last week the usda put out notice that They're continuing Maybe i haven't seen a call this but maybe cfap 2.5 uh, and that's the program that can make direct payments to Darry's as well as uh diversified uh agriculture from you know, uh, especially crops to maple And it provides producers with the opportunity to come back in And have another run at that cfap program to adjust where they landed In the first round. I haven't seen a lot of details or Talk with any farmers who have been back in but certainly directing any farmers who you uh deal with Who are looking for additional federal support or field? Maybe they need to adjust where they landed under the cfap programs to contact their fsa office to Engage uh in in those programs going forward so The uh as has been met. I think andrew or maybe erica mentioned The first thing we'll see out of the gate with the new administration as far as uh assistance will be through the uh The plan that president biden has announced in uh 1.2 trillion 1.9 trillion dollars in in covet relief and The agricultural component of that is not well defined but um The there is a lot of attention given in what we've seen so far to nutrition and to supporting schools and so some of what you talked about Related to school meals and nutrition Will certainly be a part of the priorities and I see my colleague. Uh poly has joined us I said a quick note help poly when uh, we're considering your interest in in uh The school meals programs and nutrition Uh, uh, certainly erica and ryan and andrew cover those issues but poly Is the senator's lead on nutrition in vermont. So she's been able to join us too Well poly it's great to have you with us. We're all very hungry this morning um You bring us any nutritious food? Uh, just kidding. Uh, welcome. I'm welcome and we've talked quite a bit earlier in regards to You know universal meals and Uh Farmed family foods all kinds of uh food issues and uh very interested in that and I don't know I think tom the things you are just talking about maybe uh poly could Tell us more about in regards to nutrition But these are based are they going to be run by the federal government or will that That be passed through to like the States to to manage Do you know how that though how it's going to work? So thanks for having me and uh glad to be part of this conversation. I think we'll have many more in the future and um You I'm sure heard a good summary of the nutrition provisions in the last bill and what we can see coming up from Erica and and dry and we work very close on these issues um with regards to whether it will be Passed through to the states or will be managed through the federal government. It's going to depend on um on the individual funding source so The the next bill leans heavily on um Funding through existing federal programs I believe and many of those are run through the federal government and kind of sub-granted With guidelines through the states such as the existing school meal program So the the large programs with the state discretion like the coronavirus relief fund I've had a tvd Yep Senator call more Thank you, mr. Chair So I picked up on a couple of uh times And I think ryan mentioned it and tom did as well. And by the way, I just want to echo our chairs Thanks for your efforts on behalf of the moderates with the last round of strf There was uh, it's just really nice to know we have some people that are working hard for all of us In washington and and so thank you for all your efforts You mentioned a 1.9 trillion that at least is What the number is right now that probably isn't going to be the exact number at the end of the Drive, but is it likely that vermont will get the same part of that? In other words, we got 1.2 billion from the last round of crf funding Is it likely and I realize you're you don't have a crystal ball So you don't know but is it likely we're going to get about the same sort of cut of the pie The from what I've seen and uh, what's been outlined thus far it lays out a lot more Uh channels for the money to flow through the cares act was you know, uh, very It needed to be very quick And so there was not a lot of detail in the legislation as far as the rollout of those dollars And it was possible to say here's this big chunk of money that's going to come to states at their discretion And uh, the vermont delegation, you know, senator lehi and his work on appropriations Three of his favorite words are small state minimum And uh, and I know the other members of the delegation worked on that as well But I guess that's the long answer the short answer is I don't know What the vermont share may sugar off to But it'll be harder to apply a small state minimum to a big bundle of those dollars would be my perception because It's going to be a lot more Targeted to schools to towns to states to businesses and not come out in In a few large pieces where it's pretty easy to attach a small state minimum. I don't know if others Among the delegation staff No, I think that's right. You know, I don't I also don't know but um, I think, you know, one of the differences in the Concept of state and local aid in the new bill is that it would it could truly be Local at least what that came out of the house at the end of last year. Um, not even then in the middle of last year in may um included Funding directly to municipalities So how that changes the proportion of what goes to the state and what goes to towns. I don't know but um You know, it's it's a centerpiece of the plan state and local aid so that at the very least is positive Yep And we have a summary of that bill um that I can share with Your committee clerk who can share it with you and that lays out the Biden's proposal for how that money will flow through from the federal government Yeah, that would that would be most helpful if you could send linda a copy of that then we can You know work work from that. Yep. That'd be real good. We'll do Yeah, um questions of uh the committee so we we've down to uh, the clean water issue in the environmental sector of You know our natural resources committee looks at that and and they They sort of think they have a full jurisdiction over that But our dairy farms and in ag lands You know cover a lot of clean water issues and so we're we and the ag committee are very Involved with that working through the ag agency and natural resources and You know I while you folks would know because you're from Vermont here But our farmers have done a pretty damn good job Putting in different water quality improvements on the farms of no till and and cover cropping and and You know, they've really done well to help with with our water quality problem that we have in the lake and so Could you give us any more info on the environmental side of What's happening in dc to help with water quality? I'll take a first swing at that if if okay with folks. Um You know, certainly the federal government plays a huge role in Helping farmers and uh, you've probably already had farmers in to testify or heard from others, you know you from on agency of agriculture that as far as phosphorus reductions thus far under the tmdl well over 90 of the accountable phosphorus reductions have been made by the agricultural sector primarily dairy farms and Um 60 of that has been paid for with federal dollars under nrcs. So To the extent we're making progress on Our phosphorus gulls under the tmdl, you know agriculture is way out ahead and uh, you know, they were early on the the regulated community and had the biggest Chunk handed to them or to bite off uh in under the tmdl. So There's been a lot of progress made there. Um, You know with with that said there was a tremendous focus and now nrcs Uh in vermont is going through a strategic planning process and uh our state uh Our state director state conservationist vicky drew, um would be good to hear from on this where they're asking questions now of Stakeholder groups include including farmers as to whether they maintain an absolute laser beam focus on ag water quality or whether they Um take a look at some of the other programs that they can also work with under equip And the total dollars available for ag conservation work are determined in the farm bill and It's not annual appropriations But we've got solid farm bill funding and secretary vilsack pushed a little extra money vermont's way When he you know Last time he sat in that seat. So we'll certainly be in touch with him. But I think the We're always looking at the next farm bill and and the conservation programs, but those programs are in place one thing you'll see with this administration is the You know really doesn't impact vermont that much but the one law that uh, I know is is um Of great interest to the ag community is the waters of the united states Lotus uh and what waters fall within federal jurisdiction and nationally farms and agricultural groups have Pushed back against federal jurisdiction and the the trump administration had adopted rules that greatly Loosen federal or reduce federal jurisdiction We can expect to see I think the biden administration move in a different direction on that It's a very slow process and the uh, ultimately the impact in vermont isn't All that's significant because the federal I mean the the state water quality regulations and the required agricultural practices probably go beyond what um May or may not uh Fall within the jurisdiction as determined by the clean water act and waters of the us so Yeah, that's sort of where we stand at this point. I don't know if others have more to add Um, I'll jump in if that's all right Thank you Just to just to add a few things Kind of foreshadowing what might be to come based on his public comments and conversation with the senator last week secretary vilsack And the biden administration I guess more generally Do plan to make climate change a top priority As that applies to usda The secretary and his transition staff have been talking about finding new ways to incentivize You know climate smart ag practices One of the vehicles Would be the 30 billion dollar commodity credit corporation That is an existing authority at usda that that the trump administration and secretary perdu primarily used For direct payments to producers to offset the the trade war impact But the flexibility baked into that account You know could allow a lot of direct payments for Different types of practices including You know water quality I'm sure I mean there's plenty of overlap of course between you know things like cover cropping and soil health Climate change and water quality The you know the secretary comes from The dairy sector I mean in the Between being ag secretary and now he served as the CEO of the us dairy export council So between I think this delegation and And the secretary's Interest in and work in dairy. I would expect certainly Dairy to have a seat at that table. So it's dollars are being allocated Erica did you have something you want to add or court wild quarry senator parent has a question Well, not really a question. I just think too along with water quality and what we're doing for dairy farmers as you know, we're taking the steps to To really mitigate the impacts of climate change in washington now anything we can do for even pilot programs on A carbon sequestration on our farms and other projects. I know our farmers are very I'm interested in and Figuring out a new revenue stream there. So Um, I know your delegation our delegation's excited probably about that work But you know, let's keep our guys at the top of the list for that you can Any other questions from uh committee members right now? No So Erica, did you have a question? Or a statement or Um, I if you'd like if you uh would like I'm happy to give a quick small business update Um, I know ryan also had a few other just sort of loose ends and other pieces of the bill he wanted to Are just of the last relief bill he wanted to share as well But if you're already really familiar with the new changes to ppp and idle like I can skip that Yeah, and ryan you want to jump in? We need support over in the house as well. So I think I think we're in good shape on the senate side We are in very good shape on the senate side senator, um, I just had a few Uh, I think odds and ends from the coronavirus relief package that aren't specific to ag but are important I think to highlight particularly for rural communities In vermont and anywhere else across the country, um, obviously we talked about the crf funds the first round And i'm sure you all know that the the deadline for that for spending that money has been extended to the end of um 2021 so I know we did a great job getting that money out the door you all did But uh, there's a little bit more of a longer time horizon on that. Um I hope your constituents have started seeing The the second round of direct payments $600 to everyone um We're hearing from a lot of folks that had we heard from a A lot of constituents that had problems the first time around that didn't see it or thought they got short changed so if you hear any If you hear from constituents about that just feel free to send them our way. Um And what else am I looking at here? Uh, erica can touch on the small business stuff. There's a lot of really great changes, particularly for farmers. Um So hopefully we'll see More small farmers Take advantage of those things. So I'll let her talk about that. Um Um There was three billion dollars in additional funding for the provider relief funds which goes to um Hospitals and health care providers, which uh is has been a lifeline For particularly the rural health care health care system. Um, it's kept uh hospitals Smaller hospitals afloat There's 250 million dollars in there for telehealth, which I think has been an important lifeline for folks. Um, that aren't able to access Health care easily or they've traveled one way or they're at risk. So that's positive. Um, obviously the unemployment programs pandemic unemployment programs have been extended through march 14th, which um, I know our governor had talked a lot about. Um And uh was has is essential for so many folks um, and then one other Uh change is the the spending package waived the cost matching requirement for northern border regional commission grants Um, which will be great for communities and your neck of the woods senator star Actually, I mean really everywhere except chenney county. Um now so uh, a good forward-looking Uh win for us um And then finally, I think uh, you might have seen some Uh press about it, but peter was the house Lead um on what we call the save our stages act, which was 15 billion dollars, which is not a small amount of money dedicated for small independent, um Music venues or theaters Performing art spaces. So, you know the paramount theater in ruttland, for example the flin in burlington Would be eligible to uh for this new program that was intended to keep them afloat throughout this crisis because you know, they're Well, you know the first to close and might be the last to reopen After this pandemic and they're obviously vital parts of Our communities here in brahman across the country. So That was a huge win both for you know, peter, but especially for the folks that are operating these venues Yeah, uh, what about we haven't talked about I don't think um a lot of There's been a lot of discussion here in vermont in regards to extending broadband out to the rural areas um, is there Yeah, it's and i'm sure you've all heard this We we as a state don't have the money alone to To fund that and people have talked about Well, what we need is a program like rural electrification had back in the late thirties To to get this finally get this done Is there money in any of these different programs that would help push broadband? to You know the the last house Served into the rural communities. Yeah, there absolutely was and It's you know The broadband issue has been something peter's worked on his whole career and plans to work on Into the future because they haven't quite solved it the top the top line number from the bill was seven billion dollars So like no not not nothing to shake a stick at um included 300 million Directed towards rural areas. I'm not the our broadband experts. So I don't know exactly how that money is going to flow into those communities, but it also included 65 million to complete broadband maps because to have a real An accurate estimate of what um An accurate understanding of what areas are in need because if you rely on the providers they basically will tell you that every inch of the state is covered with sell and broadband and We know that that's not true in the the 250 million dollars in telehealth funding I talked about is is um really broadband funding it's through an FCC program that um Is intended to extend make sure people have the ability to access telehealth through broadband Um, so there's some money there for that as well. And then there's three three and a quarter billion dollars for low-income A low-income uh broadband program Uh through the FCC's lifeline program. So it's it would provide um, I think $50 a month to households that are eligible for that program or or Are eligible for Pell grants Recently unemployed or are eligible for free and reduced lunch. So that's you know cash to the consumer to help pay for broadband it doesn't solve the access issue but um It it will help with folks that don't have access for economic reasons And we senator sir, we also just had 32 million dollars come into the state through the FCC program um the The rural digital program that that they run You're probably all know that the the USDA program. We don't have an easy time accessing Any at at at this point. So most of those funds in the last bill A lot of those will go through grant programs rather than the state block grant that we were hoping for so We do need a lot more money. It will hopefully be in infrastructure bills in the future We know we need to have a massive federal investment in this as you said But we did get that to four providers that 32 million So those are that's already starting to be rolled out. There's a map if you're interested I'm happy to I don't know if I can dig it right now to put in the chat by 10 o'clock. We are at right now Um, but I'm happy to send that to linda. Um, and it has a map of all of the um It was put together by um by dps in vermont. So but I'm happy to send it to you So you could send that to linda when you get it and she'll disperse it You know get it out to us um Well, um, I guess we're running out of time Are there any other questions from any of the committee members to our delegation or with us? And and I'm happy to send you some a summary Are you I guess you're probably all up to speed on the ppp and the idle changes? Because they were pretty significant for farmers. So um, but if you're not I'm happy to send you a written summary of that Yeah, that wouldn't do any harm. We try to stay abreast of it, but You know with everything that's happening. You miss some things um Well, you know in in the future if there's anything That we can help You folks with um, you know, feel free to to uh call on us and um Want to thank thank all of you for your time this morning and uh, thank you for your hard work you've been doing and wish you well into the Next year to help us some more um, so thanks a lot and um We um, we appreciate your time Thank you senator. Hopefully we'll see you in person by then Yeah, I hope so Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Yeah um, so committee we we had somebody with us, uh I don't really know who he is, but somebody's on our screen Uh, hey, did any of you want to take a quick break before we get started? You want to take a break Michael? That'd be lovely senator. Thank you um, why don't we Why don't we take You know a couple of minutes and five minutes and then we'll be right back and be with you Michael You can get your thoughts all in a row to Give us a good a good presentation. I want it senator. Thank you. Yeah, we'll catch you in a minute