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USDA Announces Additional MASC Payments better-protect-endangered-species-insecticides-using-

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced a commonsense and view the finalized Insecticide Strategy
second round of payments under the Marketing Assistance at https://www.epa.gov/endangered-species/strategy-
for Specialty Crops (MASC) program, delivering up to $1.3 protect-endangered-species-insecticides.
billion in additional aid to specialty crop producers. This Kamron Newberry
follows an initial round where the USDA’s Farm Service Reconciliation?
Agency distributed nearly $900 million.
Following a two-week district work period, Congress has
MASC, launched in December 2024 and expanded to returned to Washington to commence a legislative push on
$2.65 billion in January 2025, assists growers with higher a major reconciliation package central to President Trump’s
costs related to perishability, transportation, packaging, policy agenda. House Republicans have started committee
and labor. The program supports producers of fruits, markups on various portions of the package, with an initial
vegetables, floriculture, nursery crops, tree nuts, and other focus on areas likely to garner broad support, such as
specialty crops. defense and border security funding.
Rachel Pick Challenges remain, particularly surrounding unresolved

fiscal details and the House’s narrow majority, which
Grappling the AG Labor Push leaves little margin for internal disagreement. Speaker
Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) initially aimed for full passage by
During the week of April 27, AmericanHort and industry Memorial Day but now anticipates completing House
partners met with DOL, USDA, DHS, and Hill offices on action first, with Senate consideration likely extending into
how to approach AG Labor - specifically, the cost and the the summer months.
H-2A program. In meetings with DOL, USDA, and DHS, the
departments asked what they could do directly to assist Key committees are actively marking up their assigned
growers and farmers. Our coalition offered many options, components in the coming weeks, with significant
from fixing the AEWR (Adverse Effect Wage Rate), reducing developments anticipated in areas of relevance to
costs, eliminating a few rules and regulations, and working AmericanHort and the broader horticulture sector.
closely across agencies. In our Hill meetings, we met Matt Mika and Frida Mendez, DCLRS
with Members of Congress and staff who have led these
issues in the past and discussed how to get a bill to the
President’s desk in the 119 Congress.
th
Matt Mika

EPA Finalizes Insecticide Strategy
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released a
final national strategy to reduce the impact of insecticides
on federally endangered and threatened species. The
strategy outlines a framework for integrating species
protection into pesticide registration decisions while
maintaining flexibility for pesticide users. It marks a key
step in EPA’s broader effort to comply with the Endangered
Species Act and improve coordination with federal
partners. EPA will continue refining the strategy based
on new data and ongoing stakeholder engagement. For
more information, visit the official EPA announcement at
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-releases-strategy-

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