By Craig Regelbrugge
ANLA Vice President for Government Relations and Research

The dust has settled after the national elections, a new Congress has been sworn in, and Inauguration Day has come and gone. Of course, President Obama won both the Electoral College and the popular vote, capturing pretty much all of the states that were considered up for grabs. In the U.S. Senate, Democrats had to defend twice as many seats as Republicans, and many of them were in the conservative Midwest and Plains. But, Republicans high hopes of gaining control of the upper chamber were dashed, as Democrats have a net gain of two seats. Republicans held the House; they lost about seven seats but maintain a comfortable margin of control.

The legislation passed by Congress in the first hours of 2012 affected more than just the farm bill, addressing the estate tax, capital gains and payroll taxes.