What Can Grocery Stores Expect From the Biden Administration?

Seizing on narrow majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, the Biden administration is likely to tackle priorities such as infrastructure investment that enjoy wide bipartisan support and leave more-contentious tax-related issues for 2022 or thereafter, NPR senior Washington editor Ron Elving told an Annual Meat Conference audience.

The Biden administration's stated commitment to shoring up American supply chains depends in part on having a stable network of roads and rails to move goods produced domestically, and investing in this traditional infrastructure is a win with legislators and the general voting public alike, Elving said in a Q&A with Jennifer Hatcher, FMI's chief public policy officer and SVP for government and public affairs. "I think there's an enormous amount of support for that," he said. The country's digital infrastructure, too, is a high-priority area for the administration, and proposed spending and policies targeting digital infrastructure will be positioned as imperatives to not only address inequity but also bolster national security.

"We’re basically spending money now as though there were no tomorrow," Elving said. "And this is our children's and grandchildren's money, and we need to keep that in mind." Still, in particular as the country climbs out of the COVID-19 pandemic and the job losses and business hits it spurred, "There seems to be an implicit consensus that while the debt matters, other things matter more," he said.

When are tax increases to help pay for assorted investments likely to make their way through the legislative pipeline? Not this year, Elving predicts. With control of the U.S. House and Senate in the balance, getting COVID-19 shots in arms, getting kids back in school and getting businesses more fully reopened will take precedence over raising taxes on households making more than $400,000 a year, Elving suggested. Prospects of revenue hikes making their way to the president's desk are likely to dim after the midterm elections, but there's no urgency to balance the books now, he indicated. "If anything I would say the 118th Congress would be less inclined to follow Joe Biden’s preferences," Elving said.   

Retailers can expect to see new and expanded efforts to address food security via collaboration between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Congress, according to Elving. The new leader of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. David Scott of Georgia, represents metropolitan Atlanta and "his constituents are the new Democratic Party constituency," Elving said. Their top priority in the realm of food and agriculture is access to fresh foods in cities, and policies and spending plans to come out of the 117th Congress and the Biden administration are likely to reflect that, he noted.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which Biden signed into law this month, expands Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and includes a $25 million investment in modernizing the program, notably by improving online payment systems and helping more retailers offer mobile and online payment for SNAP-eligible items. "I would expect this to be a very productive time for people who want to address food deserts," Elving said.

Finally, with respect to climate change, "This administration will take it more seriously than any previous administration," Elving offered. What that will look like in terms of policy, however, is uncertain, given legislation's precarious path in the Senate.