The farm bill negotiators face a self-imposed deadline this week for reaching a deal that Congress could act on by the end of the month when the 2014 farm bill expires.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pressed farm bill negotiators to finalize an agreement as quickly as possible, but House Republicans used the conference committee’s first formal meeting to continue to press senators to accept tighter work requirements for food stamp recipients.

Food insecurity in the United States fell last year from 12.3 percent to 11.8 percent of U.S. households, the sixth straight year of declines following the 2007 recession, USDA's Economic Research Service reported today.