When agreement is weak and a lot must get done, the political and logistical solution is big lumpy omnibus bills laden with lots of sweeteners to placate the grumpy. Omnibus Trade Bill The U.S. Congress was too sharply divided to reach agreement on the traditional, dozen legislative measures used to fund the government each year, but it did manage to reach agreement earlier this month on one behemoth (1,582 pages) bill called the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014. Meanwhile, the new Agriculture Act of 2014 affects 15 percent of household budgets and weighs in at just under 1,000 pages. It goes to the President for signature as early as next week (see below). When agreement is weak and a lot must get done, the political and logistica...

TAGS – Asia, North America