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The leader of the House Agriculture Committee says he wants to see more money go into USDA’s Commodity Credit Corp., but he’s willing to oppose a funding increase without conditions giving Congress more authority over how the money is spent.

Top lawmakers say Congress is looking at providing more money for payments to farmers to offset losses from the coronavirus pandemic.

Meat and poultry plants continue to close because of COVID-19 as fears grow of possible shortages.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Friday sent official notice to Congress that the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be ready for implementation on July 1, the final step in the long process that will ensure that most agricultural tariffs between the three countries remain at zero.

The Small Business Administration on Monday will start accepting new applications for the Paycheck Protection Program, using more than $300 billion in new funding provided by a coronavirus relief bill President Donald Trump signed into law Friday.

More than 30 Republican and Democratic House members are proposing to include an additional $50 billion in aid to farmers in the next COVID-19 economic relief bill.

Pressure is mounting on USDA not to limit the payments that individual producers can get through the Trump administration’s COVID-19 relief package. According to information released by a key senator, USDA has been planning to cap the payments at $125,000 per commodity per individual farmer or $250,000 for all commodities.

The House on Thursday cleared a $484 billion COVID-19 relief bill that will replenish the Paycheck Protection Program with an additional $320 billion and make farms eligible for a separate disaster loan program for small businesses.

USDA reports released Thursday show China has purchased another 1,400 metric tons of U.S. beef and 272,000 tons of U.S. soybeans, demonstrating importers are successfully getting exemptions to the country’s tariffs.

A fresh round of COVID-19 relief should be available to small businesses and farms very soon. The House is set today to clear legislation that will add $321 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program, which has been out of money for a week.