May 27, 2022
I hope y’all are ready for the Memorial Day weekend and have plenty of steaks, hamburgers and briskets on hand for the occasion. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m ready to trade this keyboard for my BBQ pit and some quality time with the family.
Before I do, we have plenty to update you on.
First up are the results from the primary runoff election this Tuesday. The TSCRA PAC supported eight candidates in the runoff election. Of those, six won their races, one remains locked in a race that is too close to call, and another lost his reelection bid.
Congratulations to Dawn Buckingham, who won her contest to be the Republican candidate for Texas Land Commissioner, Pete Flores and Morgan LaMantia, who won their respective races for the Texas Senate and Kyle Kacal, Glenn Rogers and Stephanie Klick, who won their primaries for the Texas House.
Rep. Phil Stephenson lost his race to be the Republican candidate for Texas House District 85, being bested by Stan Kitzman.
Incumbent Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar is still locked in a battle with progressive candidate Jessica Cisneros. As of writing, the race is still too close to call, with only 177 votes separating the two.
Almost all of the races we endorsed were hotly contested and won by narrow margins, so a tremendous thank you to all of you who voted and supported TSCRA PAC-backed candidates!
Here at the government relations office, we’re already getting ready for the general election in November. No rest for the weary.
Moving on, border security efforts continue to be a major focus of the association. Many of you will probably remember that Title 42—the program that allowed authorities to rapidly deport illegal border crossers amid the COVID-19 pandemic—was set to end on May 23. A massive influx of illegal border crossers was expected to coincide with the end of the program, but fortunately, last Friday, a federal district judge in Louisiana blocked the Biden administration’s plan to end Title 42.
Despite the last-minute reprieve for South Texas ranchers and landowners, border security and illegal border crossings continue to be a significant problem.
TSCRA’s Border Security Task Force met this week to discuss many of those problems. I am happy to report that the group’s work is moving forward quickly, having already identified numerous objectives and deliverables that they are working towards.
I also have to give a shout-out to Stephen Diebel, TSCRA’s second vice president and chairman of the Border Security Task Force. I know he’s putting in a tremendous amount of time and effort on the issue because hardly a day passes that we don’t work together extensively on those objectives.
I’m looking forward to sharing more as work progresses.
Also this week, USDA announced new actions being taken on processing capacity. Most of those rules are focused on poultry, but additional actions that impact cattle producers are expected later this year. Additional funds were also announced for financing processing capacity and workforce training programs.
We’re also making plans for the TSCRA Summer Meeting in Santa Fe, NM, from June 9-10, 2022. There’s still time to register to attend if you haven’t yet. All four of our policy committees will be meeting during the event to discuss a wide array of issues. For more, visit https://tscra.org/information/events/summer-meeting/
There’s no doubt that many of you have also heard about the Security and Exchange Commission’s plan to require greenhouse-gas disclosures from publicly traded companies. As you can probably imagine, we have some serious concerns with this proposal. We’ll be submitting comments, but please keep an eye out for an email from us next week. We would love it if you could submit your own comments on the matter and will be sending you an email with some resources to help.
I’m sure that I’m forgetting something, but regardless, I will stop talking and let you get to your holiday weekend. I hope y’all have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day!
-Jeremy
Jeremy Fuchs is the director of policy communications and government relations for Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.