EPA loses independence: pesticide makers get veto over safety rules
S. 1999 — USDA CROP Act of 2025 · Filed by Roger Marshall (R-KS) · Introduced Jun 9, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends federal pesticide law to require the EPA to coordinate with the USDA before imposing new restrictions on pesticides, including publishing economic analyses of compliance costs and considering agricultural data and industry input. It also requires the EPA to coordinate with USDA and other agencies when implementing endangered species protections related to pesticide use, and allows these coordination requirements to be waived if the EPA, USDA, and the pesticide registrant agree.
Why we flagged it
The bill's functional effect is to embed agricultural and pesticide-industry interests into EPA's decision-making process by mandating coordination with USDA, requiring cost-benefit analyses weighted toward grower compliance costs, and allowing waivers when industry agrees. This is regulatory capture dressed as 'coordination.'
What the text implies
- The requirement to publish economic analyses of compliance costs and coordinate with USDA before restricting pesticides may slow or block EPA action on chemicals linked to health or environmental harm, because cost to industry becomes a formal procedural gate.
- The waiver provision allows EPA, USDA, and the pesticide registrant to jointly agree to skip coordination requirements, creating a three-party veto where industry has explicit seat at the table for its own regulation.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
pesticide manufacturers; agricultural chemical companies; large-scale commodity crop growers