President Donald Trump kicks off a series of weekly campaign trips across the U.S. with a visit to Iowa on Tuesday, putting the biggest U.S. corn state in focus as farmers decry Congress’s failure to advance key ethanol legislation.
Back in Washington, Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress face the prospect of another partial government shutdown after a second fatal shooting in Minneapolis involving immigration agents. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after the incident Saturday that Democrats wouldn't support a fiscal 2026 funding package that includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
A continuing resolution that is keeping much of the government funded at FY25 levels expires on Friday. The House, which is on break this week, would have to approve any changes to the funding bill.
Trump will speak at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa, on Tuesday. He’s also tentatively set to tour an ethanol facility, according to an industry source.
“It could be awkward timing,” Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw told Agri-Pulse last week as House GOP leaders struggled with what to do with ethanol industry demands to use a fiscal 2026 funding package to authorize year-round use of E15. The leadership ultimately agreed only to create a study council for biofuel issues, with a goal of considering some legislative solution by the end of February.
“I wouldn’t want to be the president coming to Iowa if E15 was just kicked out of the budget bills,” Shaw said.
The National Corn Growers Association said farmers are “disgusted, disappointed and disillusioned” over Congress putting off the E15 issue in a “spectacularly weak and offensive way.”
The E15 measure also would have cut the number of oil refiners eligible for exemptions from biofuel-blending rules, triggering fierce opposition from independent energy firms.
While the American Petroleum Institute, which represents large refiners, backs the proposed E15 bill and is urging Congress to revive it, a coalition of smaller refiners and union workers argue the legislation would make "crushing” compliance costs even worse, raise consumer fuel costs and weaken domestic refining.
Iowa is the biggest U.S. producer of corn-based ethanol and a crucial state for Republicans to hold onto this year and in 2028,
Republican Rep. Zach Nunn told Agri-Pulse he expects Trump to make several stops in his Iowa district, a region including Des Moines that Nunn has represented since 2023, after defeating Democratic incumbent Cindy Axne.
Nunn’s race to keep his U.S. House seat recently moved from a “Lean Republican” rating to toss-up by the non-partisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. A member of the House Ag Committee, Nunn won re-election by four points in 2024.
Iowa GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ re-election race is also rated a toss-up contest.
Senate GOP faces DHS challenge
The chances of another government shutdown appeared relatively low before Saturday's shooting, even though Democrats were frustrated that they hadn't gotten immigration enforcement reforms included in the FY26 spending package, which also includes the Defense,Transportation, Labor, and Health and Human Services departments.
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“What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling —and unacceptable in any American city. Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE," Schumer said in announcing Democratic opposition to the spending package.
There also were signs of Republican unease with the continued violence during the immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
“The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake. There must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people with the truth,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said in a social media post.
In the House, Homeland Security Committee Chair Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., announced plans Saturday to bring in top immigration officials for a hearing.
The public impact of another shutdown would likely be muted.
The Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration wouldn't be affected because their FY26 funding bill passed in November after the first shutdown of this fiscal year. And the FY26 bills funding the Commerce, Interior, Justice and Energy departments, as well as EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers were signed into law on Friday.
U.S.-EU trade pact back on track?
A key committee in the European Parliament on Monday will consider when and how to move forward with a vote on the U.S.-European Union trade pact agreed last summer, after a tumultuous week of transatlantic relations.
The parliament froze plans to ratify the agreement last week after President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on eight European Countries over Greenland, but European leaders signaled the process could move forward after the president climbed down from the threats on Wednesday.
Bernd Lange, who chairs the parliament’s international trade committee, said the panel will “revisit the issue” of implementing the deal during its meeting on Monday, but stressed that the committee is not going to rubber-stamp the deal.
There “is no room for false security,” he said in a post to X on Thursday, adding the next U.S. “threat is sure to come.”
Further, he said that the lack of details on the U.S.’ dealmaking on Greenland could slow the deal’s implementation.
We “need them in order to decide how to proceed with the [implementation] of the EU-U.S. trade deal,” he wrote.
But U.S. officials are growing increasingly frustrated at the pace of European action. During a Q&A session at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said “Europe has done nothing to implement the trade deal” – which would ease tariffs on some U.S. ag exports.
“When we made the trade deal with the Europeans, shortly thereafter, we modified our tariffs to be much lower. We cut them a deal on autos that other people don't have. We cut them a deal on other products other people don't have. Europeans have not lowered a single tariff for us,” Greer said.
U.S. Ambassador to the EU Andy Puzder has joined the criticism. The “real instability” in the transatlantic relationship, he said in a post to X, comes “from the EU's own failure to act on the historic trade agreement that Presidents Trump and [Ursula] von der Leyen negotiated last summer.”
Here is a list of agriculture or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EST):
Monday, Jan. 26
Federal offices in the Washington area are closed due to weather, dates for government reports listed below may change. Events also could be canceled or postponed due to wintery conditions across much of the country.
International Dairy Foods Association’s Dairy Forum 2026, through Wednesday, Palm Desert, California.
Tuesday, Jan. 27
President Donald Trump speaks at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa. The president also is tentatively set to tour an ethanol facility in the central Iowa area, according to an industry source.
The American Feed Industry Association annual Pet Food Conference, Atlanta.
International Production & Processing Expo, through Thursday, Atlanta.
10 a.m. - The Center for Strategic and International Studies will host a webinar on “The Future of AGOA: Building American Prosperity Through African Partnership.”
1 p.m. - The Brookings Institution will host an event on “One year of ‘America First’ trade policy: What did we learn, and what comes next?”
Wednesday, Jan. 28
The American Sheep Industry Association annual convention, through Saturday, Reno, Nevada.
The American Feed Industry Association hosts an IPPE Nutrition Symposium for a “New Understanding About Old Ingredients,” Atlanta.
The American Feed Industry Association co-hosts an event with USDA and other government agencies on the trade of animal food products, Atlanta.
The American Feed Industry Association hosts a free Feed Production Education Program, Atlanta.
9 a.m. – The International Food Policy Research Institute will host a webinar on “Better Diets & Nutrition Webinar Series Session 2: Demand Creation for Fruits and Vegetables.”
10 a.m. – The International Food Policy Research Institute will host a webinar on “Unpacking the Untapped Potential of the School Feeding Labor Force.”
10 a.m. – Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the federal environmental review and permitting processes, 562 Dirksen.
3 p.m. – USDA releases Broiler Hatchery report.
Thursday, Jan. 29
8:30 a.m. – USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report
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