AFIA congratulates President Obama

“For President Obama, the election outcome is a second chance, not a mandate,” said AFIA President and CEO, Joel G. Newman.

“Overall, it’s pretty clear voters opted for the status quo and not a wholesale shift in political control. The challenge to the White House and Congress is to put action behind all the ‘appropriate’ things being said about bipartisanship because it’s pretty clear the public’s frustration with inaction on key issues – the economy, taxes, the Farm Bill, immigration reform – is close to the breaking point.”

“The next 60 days will be telling. Congress is in a lame duck session for the next few weeks wrestling with some of those aforementioned issues, but it is expected the Administration will remove its political hold on several key regulatory issues now that the election is behind us,” Newman said.

“AFIA’s members need to see the feed rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act,” he continued. “We’re eagerly awaiting EPA’s ruling on the governors’ petition to waive the corn ethanol Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS); we need to see commonsense rulemaking out of CFTC on futures markets, and, of course, our members are very concerned about whether Congress and the White House can come together to provide tax reform/budgetary and regulatory certainty to the marketplace so pro-growth company decisions can be made.”