Sara Wyant

Behind-the-scenes talks focused on avoiding the fiscal cliff and possibly the “farm cliff” are expected to continue this week

Efforts to find a compromise on the farm bill’s commodity title hit the equivalent of a brick wall Thursday as leaders from both the House and Senate agriculture committees appeared to be sharply divided in their respective positions.

Another Sunday, another day of political finger pointing on the Sunday morning talk shows, with little indication that progress is being made on addressing the combination of looming tax increases and budget cuts that’s been dubbed the “fiscal cliff.”

U.S. trade officials ask Russia to lift new meat import barriers on beef and pork.

Luetkemeyer said he saw no willingness from Democrats to cut entitlements as part of the so-called “fiscal cliff” negotiations and said Republicans were unwilling to raise top tax rates to generate more revenue – preferring to cap loopholes and deductions in the tax code instead.

Sen. Pat Roberts says he is open to compromising on the commodity title, potentially removing one of the biggest stumbling blocks between the two versions fo the farm bill

Key lawmakers said today that there hasn’t been much progress on the so-called fiscal cliff negotiations over the Thanksgiving recess, but there will be a lot of options on the table and potentially a new flurry of activity when they return on Monday.

As more farmers complete harvest and finalize their crop insurance claims, the number of indemnity payments exceeded $5 billion and continues to climb.

With the dust barely settled from last week’s hotly contested elections, lawmakers return Tuesday to try to find a mutually accepted path forward on the nation’s fiscal problems and perhaps address several other long-simmering issues

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