Steve Davies

House Democrats are moving ahead this week with debating key provisions of the $3.5 trillion tax and spending package. The House Ways and Means Committee has announced plans to take up the health care, paid leave and child care provisions Thursday and Friday. That would push its action on tax issues into next week.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board, which has been dormant so far during the Biden administration, is likely to tackle climate change and environmental justice issues when it starts meeting again later this year, EPA and new members say.

House and Senate Ag Committee Republicans are urging the Food and Agricultural Climate Alliance to join them in calling on Democrats to hold public hearings ahead of considering ag spending in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill. Committee Chairman David Scott, D-Ga., has announced a business meeting for Friday to consider the reconciliation package.

Tyson Foods is sweetening benefits for employees in its effort to encourage vaccinations, offering up to 20 hours of paid sick for workers who get shots.

Despite an expected increase in net cash farm income this year, median total farm household income is projected to drop to $80,314 for 2020 and $79,909 in 2021, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Can meat made with cultured animal cells be called a steak? The Food Safety and Inspection Service wants answers to that question and more than a dozen others as it tries to determine how to label cell-cultured meat and poultry products now being developed for commercialization in the U.S.

While work continues to find nominees for some vacant high-level positions, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says it’s just as important to fill “worker bee” positions throughout the entire department.

USDA’s Risk Management Agency is expanding its whole-farm revenue protection plan with the goal of garnering more participation from aquaculture and organic producers.

A top member of the House Ag Committee and one of the more moderate Democrats in the chamber says she doesn’t expect $3.5 trillion to be the final figure for a reconciliation bill currently under consideration.