The government shutdown reaches a new crisis point this week with the potential lapse in SNAP benefits, and President Donald Trump is in Asia for meetings that are scheduled to include his face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the U.S. and China had agreed on a "framework" of a deal that would result in "substantial" Chinese purchases of U.S. farm commodities.
"I think we are going to be able to discuss substantial soybean and ag purchases for our American farmers," Bessent told NBC's Meet the Press from Malaysia, where he was traveling with the president.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday he wants to secure “a complete deal.” “I want our farmers to be taken care of,” he added.
Also this week, several Trump nominees of particular importance to food and agriculture policy have hearings on Capitol Hill. They include Julie Callahan, his pick as chief agricultural trade negotiator, and Casey Means, a virulent critic of key pesticides used in conventional agriculture who is Trump’s pick as U.S. surgeon general.
The Trump administration says it doesn’t have enough money to pay November SNAP benefits, and numerous states have warned program participants not to expect them, according to a USDA memo obtained by Axios.
A highly partisan statement posted on the USDA Food and Nutrition Service website and reposted late Saturday night on X by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says in part that “the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued" Nov. 1.
“We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.”
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Congressional Democrats criticized the administration for apparently being unwilling to tap a contingency fund to pay SNAP benefits.
“This is perhaps the most cruel and unlawful offense the Trump administration has perpetrated yet – freezing funding already enacted into law to feed hungry Americans while he shovels tens of billions of dollars out the door to Argentina and into his ballroom,” the ranking Democrats on the Agriculture and Appropriations committees, Angie Craig of Minnesota and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, said in a joint statement Saturday.
The Women, Infants and Children nutrition assistance program also is at risk. Some 44 organizations led by the National WIC Association have appealed to USDA to provide $300 million in additional emergency funds to the program to maintain benefits.
Administration officials blame Senate Democrats for the potential lapse in SNAP and WIC benefits. Democrats have repeatedly refused to help pass a stopgap spending bill that would reopen government unless Republicans agree to extend expiring health care subsidies.
“It’s an unbelievable compromising situation with this government shutdown, not just for our farmers, who of course are our No. 1 constituency at USDA and frankly the backbone of this country, but for the SNAP program, the food stamp program, which of course we administer, for the WIC program, which we administer,” Rollins said in an interview with CNBC.
Rollins reopened Farm Service Agency office last week and cleared the release of farm program payments due to be paid this month.
There is still no end in sight to the shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is keeping that chamber out of session for a sixth straight week.
Xi meeting comes as tariff pause nears end
Trump, having spent this weekend at a summit in Malaysia where he unveiled two new trade pacts, will fly to Japan on Monday, before heading to South Korea for another summit on Wednesday.
Trump and Xi are set to meet on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit in South Korea. Senior trade officials from both sides met on Friday and Saturday to try and break the impasse.
The two sides have less than three weeks before a tariff détente is set to expire. Trump has said China’s soybean purchases, rare earths and fentanyl are his top priorities in talks. China will be looking for some loosening of U.S. export controls.
On Friday, the administration kicked off an investigation into China’s failure to live up to its Phase One Agreement purchases, in what analysts see as an attempt to exert pressure and demonstrate the U.S. potential tariff leverage.
While the high-profile China talks could be the most consequential for the U.S. ag economy, the Asia trip is also an opportunity to make headway on other bilateral trade talks. Malaysia and the U.S. are in talks on a potential trade pact.
Trump will also meet Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The two countries secured a tariff deal earlier this year that includes $8 billion in ag purchase commitments, which the new PM says she’ll honor. But disagreements remain around a vehicle to facilitate Japanese investments in the U.S.
South Korea and the United States still need to finalize their tariff agreement, and officials are eying the Asia visit as an opportunity to hash out the last details. Questions remain over whether the country will provide more market access for U.S. rice and beef. South Korean trade officials were in Washington earlier this month and told their domestic media that “one or two remaining issues” required further discussion, including the terms of its own investment fund with the U.S.
Trump met with Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Malaysia on Sunday to talk tariffs, with Lula arriving with an agenda in English to discuss.
“We know we know each other. We know what each other wants,” Trump told reporters. “I think we'll be able to do some pretty good deals.”
One person Trump was in no mood to meet on the sidelines of the summits: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Trump axed ongoing trade talks with Canada over an ad the Ontario government placed on U.S. networks criticizing tariffs.
“I don’t have any intention” of meeting Carney, Trump told reporters.
Tariff vote deadline ticks on
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., didn’t bring any tariff votes to the Senate floor last week. But on Friday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Democrats will force a vote this week, if they have to.
Senate rules dictate that a resolution challenging an economic emergency must get a vote within 18 days of going to a committee. A resolution challenging the president’s use of sweeping tariffs is set to reach that milestone next week – although there are other resolutions on the Canada and Brazil tariffs that could also come up for a vote.
Callahan faces questioning amid ag's trade concerns
Callahan, will appear before the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday for her nomination hearing.
The U.S.-China relationship is expected to be one area of focus, given the export troubles plaguing U.S. ag commodities, with senators also pressing Callahan over plans to open more markets for their home state commodities.
“We need to get better access to overseas markets,” Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told Agri-Pulse on Thursday. “We’ve got to get soybeans into China again, beef into China again, wheat barley,” he said, adding that he also wants to hear about efforts to get more pulse crops into India.
Also expect the Democratic members of the committee to make the case for more congressional oversight over U.S. trade policy.
Callahan, who currently serves as assistant USTR for ag affairs and commodity policy, has already met with Ranking Member Ron Wyden, where the Oregon Democrat expressed his frustrations with what he sees as the lack of transparency from the administration and consultations with Congress on trade negotiations, according to an aide.
In comments at Agri-Pulse’s Ag and Food Policy Summit earlier this year, Callahan made the case for narrower trade pacts over broad free trade agreements – that she said can be slow to negotiate and require Congress to set procedures and priorities.
USDA nominees get hearings as well as Means
Casey Means, the sister of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. adviser Calley Means, is also a key figure in the Make America Healthy Again and every bit the critic of U.S. agriculture.
She wrote in her online newsletter that “the single most effective strategy that I believe can solve the pressing human health and environmental issues facing our globe” is “restoring sustainable agriculture practices that contribute to biodiverse soil and nutrient-rich food, and moving away from industrial agriculture that uses toxic synthetic pesticides.”
She said the use of pesticides worldwide “is strongly linked to nearly every single chronic disease we face by destroying our mitochondria.”
On Thursday, she is scheduled to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. She will appear virtually, instead of in person, because of conditions related to her pregnancy.
The Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday will consider three of Trump’s picks for key roles at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. John Walk of Virginia is the nominee for inspector general. If confirmed, he would replace former IG Phyllis Fong, a 22-year veteran of USDA who in late January was removed from her position by the Trump administration. Walk now serves as the agency's acting deputy secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services and previously served as a judicial officer for the department.
Mindy Brashears has been chosen to serve as undersecretary for food safety, a job she held in Trump’s first term, including in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Brashears currently leads the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University.
Yvette Herrell is the nominee for assistant secretary of USDA’s Office of Congressional Relations. She served in the House from New Mexico for one term.
Here is a list of agriculture or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EDT):
Monday, Oct. 27
Tuesday, Oct. 28
9:15 a.m. – Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on competition in the fertilizer and seed industries, 106 Dirksen.
2 p.m. – The Brookings Institution will host an event on “Renegotiating the USMCA: Next steps and key issues.”
Wednesday, Oct. 29
98th National FFA Convention and Expo, through Saturday, Indianapolis.
10 a.m. – Senate Environment and Public Works Committee meeting to consider the nominations of Jeffrey Hall to be assistant EPA administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance, and Douglas Troutman to be assistant EPA administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention, overseeing the Office of Pesticide Programs, 562 Dirksen.
10 a.m. – Senate Finance Committee hearing on the nominations of Jeffrey Goettman to be a deputy United States trade representative, Julie Callahan to be chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and Thomas Bell to be inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services, 215 Dirksen.
3 p.m. – Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the nominations of Mindy Brashears to be USDA undersecretary for food safety, Stella Yvette Herrel to be an assistant agriculture secretary, and John Walk to be USDA inspector general, 106 Dirksen.
5.30 p.m. – The Peterson Institute for International Economics will host an event with Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., on “Congress's role in the trade war.”
Thursday, Oct. 30
11 a.m. – Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the nomination of Casey Means to be surgeon general, 430 Dirksen.
Noon – Agri-Pulse webinar, “Building Domestic Demand for U.S. Soy,” sponsored by the Soy Checkoff.
Friday, Oct. 31
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