Washington Update:FY 2016 Spending Approved Transition Begins USDA's December World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates

摘要

After approving two short-term measures Congress completed action on a $1.6 trillion FY2016 spending package in mid-December.The negotiators dropped several policy riders from the bill in the final hours, including the language blocking implementation of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulations. There was non-binding language included that clarifies that ponds and ditches are not to be covered under the WOTUS regulations. Note that a federal court is currently blocking implementation of the regulation. Louisiana's champions were able to include a one-year returning worker exemption that will allow your applicationfor a H2b visa for a returning worker to be processed outside of the annual cap on H2b visas, if that worker has been admitted under an H2b visa in 2013,2014 or 2015. As for the H2b application process, we are engaging official and coalition resources toimproveprocessing performance for industry applications.