The Farm Bill is the primary piece of legislation that determines our nation’s food and agriculture policy. This historically bipartisan five-year authorization bill is set to expire on September 30, 2023, and contains both mandatory and discretionary spending. It has a tremendous impact on both rural and urban communities, farming livelihoods, and food economies, which affect local and regional economic growth as well as the environment and public health.

Thousands of bills are introduced in Congress each year. However, only a few hundred are ever considered by the full House or Senate. After bills are introduced, they are sent to a committee, where the hard work of writing legislation is done. There are 20 committees in the House of Representatives and 16 committees in the Senate, each with jurisdiction over a variety of bills, issues, agencies and programs.

On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed into law the $1.65 trillion omnibus bill to fund the government through September 2023. The omnibus bill provides $1 million in funding for the North Mecklenburg County Housing Preservation Initiative that was requested by Centralina Regional Council and supported by Congresswoman Alma Adams. The bill also provides $772.5 billion in nondefense discretionary funding, up almost 6% from $730 billion from FY22.

Following last month’s general elections and Georgia’s run-off election in December, the composition of the next Congress is finally set. The 118th Congress will be sworn in on January 3rd, 2023, with control split between Democrats and Republicans. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans regained majority control, albeit narrowly, with 222 Republicans and 213 Democrats elected.

Local elections were held November 8, 2022, and the results are in with a couple of changes in our region. In the nine-county Centralina region, 68 total member seats were on the ballot in the 2022 local government general election. Out of these positions, 43 were contested.

New district maps played a significant role in North Carolina’s 2022 state legislative elections. With the redrawn district lines, the Centralina region saw a net gain of two districts in the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, a few districts in both the Senate and the House experienced a reshaping that changed their coverage areas.

Tuesday’s elections resulted in four new members for North Carolina’s congressional delegation and one new Senator. Representative Ted Budd (R) won the Senate race and will succeed the retiring Senator Richard Burr (R). Having gained a new seat in the House of Representatives from the 2020 Census, the North Carolina House delegation in the next Congress will consist of 14 members. The new NC delegation will be evenly split with seven Republicans and seven Democrats. Of the four newly elected members, there are three Democrats and one Republican. All four have served in the state senate.

With the Congressional appropriations process under way, the National Association of Counties (NACo), National League of Cities (NLC), and others are directing local governments and key stakeholders to ask their Members of Congress to support adding an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) flexibility bill to the year-end omnibus appropriations package or to the next must-pass legislation. The bipartisan bill is titled the State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act (S. 3011/H.R. 5735).

Earlier this summer, the Inflation Reduction Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden. The legislation provides federal action in three main areas: taxes, healthcare and climate. To deliver approximately $370 billion in climate and clean energy funding, the Act makes reforms to the tax and healthcare systems, including a new minimum corporate tax, an extension of ACA health insurance subsidies and authorizing Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices.

Advocacy and Appropriations: The U.S. House of Representatives is in recess until September 13. The Senate is in session until August 5 before breaking for the rest of the month. Centralina has historically scheduled meetings during the August-long recess with the region’s congressional delegation while lawmakers are in the state. Given the changes that will occur in November primarily as a result of redistricting, we have decided to hold these meetings after the elections. Centralina’s members should still take advantage of opportunities to advocate for local and regional priorities when seeing Members of Congress locally. The best strategy in these encounters is to keep your message short and sweet.