The 118th Congress begins today, January 3rd, 2023, bringing divided leadership to Washington, D.C. The Republican party is now in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, which is made up of 222 Republicans and 212 Democrats (and one vacancy). The U.S. Senate will continue to be led by the Democratic party, which has 48 Senate …
Continue reading 118th Congress Begins Amid Leadership Uncertainty
Senator Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) is on her second term in the Senate where she was first elected in 2012 after serving in the state legislature. She spent 8 years in the state legislature where she chaired the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee and was a member of several others. Before her stint in the state legislature, …
Continue reading Member Spotlight: Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE)
The federal government is currently on the precipice of finalizing a sweeping, $1.7 trillion omnibus funding package, just in time to prevent a looming government shutdown, which would have begun at midnight tonight. Funding the government through the end of the current fiscal year was the final item on the 117th Congress’s agenda. The omnibus …
Continue reading Omnibus Heads to Biden’s Desk for Signature
The deal to fund the federal government beyond its current expiration date of December 23, 2022, to September 30, 2023 was released this morning and includes PIA-supported crop insurance provisions, just weeks after PIA crop insurance agents came to Washington, D.C. to promote them. Throughout the fall, PIA aggressively advocated in favor of the inclusion …
Continue reading PIA-Supported Crop Provisions Included in Omnibus
The Senate last night passed the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through December 23, 2022. An extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), set to expire tonight, Friday, December 16 at 11:59pm, was included in the bill. The House passed the one-week CR earlier this week. The CR now goes to the White …
Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) last week introduced S. 5149, a bill to remove agents from a definition that would result in burdensome requirements for agents enrolling consumers into Medicare. PIA supports this legislation. The bill seeks to reverse the harmful Medicare rule that could discourage licensed agents and brokers from representing Medicare Advantage and Part …
Continue reading Bill Introduced to Remove Agents from Burdensome Medicare Rule
A few of the participants outside the office of Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) This week, crop insurance agents from PIA affiliates from North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Minnesota came to Washington, D.C. to advocate on a variety of issues related to the federal crop insurance program. Crop insurance provides our nation’s farmers with the …
Continue reading PIA Agents Fly in to Advocate on Crop Insurance
Now that the midterm election results are in, and the majority parties of both the Senate and House for the next Congress are known, Congress has returned for a lame-duck session with a long to-do list before the 117th Congress ends on January 3, 2023. PIA is engaged with Congress on several issues in …
The agricultural economy has experienced extraordinary volatility over the past few years, and it has been worsened by the pandemic, which caused additional instability across economic sectors. During this time of unprecedented upheaval for producers, independent insurance agents have helped guide producers through the process of purchasing crop insurance to ensure they have the protection …
Continue reading PIA Action Alert: Ask Congress to Provide Inflation Relief for Crop Agents
After months of campaigning, the midterm congressional and state elections concluded yesterday. At the federal level, all 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats were up for grabs, with the outcome to determine who will control Congress for the next two years. At the time of this posting on Wednesday morning, the …
Continue reading Outcomes of Key Races Remain Unclear, House and Senate Majorities Uncertain
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