Trade and Agriculture

Senator-elect Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) says Tessa Gould has "unmatched political skills."

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Two Kentucky lawmakers are teaming up to protect one of the state's most precious resources: Bourbon.

Reps. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) and Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) have formed the "Congressional Bourbon Caucus" to advocate for the product in Congress.

According to a joint press release from the two members, the caucus will "educat[e] other Members on the legislative and regulatory issues impacting the industry."

"This caucus offers a solid base of bipartisan support for one of Kentucky's most important industries and largest employers," said Yarmuth. "Congressman Guthrie and I both agreed it was important to create a working group that would advocate for this critical part of the Commonwealth's economy."

So far, seventeen lawmakers have signed up for the weekly cocktail hour, er, um, I mean for the caucus.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee are using North Korea's nuclear test to press President Obama to move forward with a controversial trade agreement with South Korea.

The deal is opposed by some U.S. automakers and organized labor, and Obama has offered few signals that he intends to pick it up anytime soon.

Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking Republican Charles Grassley (Iowa) urged Obama to "begin the hard work of winning broad approval" of the deal in a letter dated Monday. They also offered their full support for the deal, while acknowledging that work still needed to be done to satisfy automakers and U.S. beef produces, who face restrictions on exports to South Korea.

Read the whole letter after the jump.

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Rising protectionism has been a fear of business for years, and the fears seem borne out by the grades a major trade group has announced today of members of Congress.

Five freshmen senators, including four Democrats and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), received "F" grades from the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), which represents hundreds of U.S. companies.

Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) were given "F" marks by the group, and four other freshmen got "D" grades. They included a Republican, Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.). Read more...

The Government Accountability Office Wednesday released the full report of its decision to sustain Boeing's protest over the Air Force's refueling award to Northrop Grumman

The Senate has joined the House in overriding President Bush's veto of the farm bill.

After a clerical error has left both Congress and the White House unsure of exactly what farm bill got vetoed, White House spokesman Dana Perino mocked Capitol Hill leaders saying Congress "can even screw up spending the taxpayers' money unwisely."

The error left out Title 3 of the bill when it was sent to White House resulted in President Bush vetoing an incomplete version of the farm bill.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) has said the likely solution is to renumber the approved farm bill and then redo the whole process, with Bush vetoing and then the House and Senate voting to override.

Perino said the error will hopefully give lawmakers time to reconsider "how much they're asking the taxpayers to spend at a time of record farm income."

The House has voted to override President Bush's veto of the farm bill by a vote of 316-108, only two short of the vote a week ago approving the farm bill.

The Hill's Sam Youngman has the story.

The Hill's J. Taylor Rushing reports from Capitol Hill that the Senate has cleared the farm bill conference report to President Bush, which was approved by the House Wednesday.

Like the House, the Senate adopted the conference report with a veto-proof majority as 81 Senators voted in favor.