Items Tagged with 'government funding'

The Biden administration hosts the first White House conference on hunger and nutrition in more than 50 years to debate a national strategy that officials will unveil ahead of the Wednesday meeting.

Lawmakers are well into their preparatory hearings for writing the next farm bill. But a veteran Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee suggests the bill’s fate is going to hinge on whether lawmakers come up with more funding for it.

Lawmakers are staring at yet another government funding deadline with little sign of progress on a deal for fiscal 2022 spending, while ag groups await the Biden administration’s launch of its signature initiative for developing markets for low-carbon agricultural commodities.

A stopgap-funding bill that will keep the government operating this fall includes a $10 billion expansion in agricultural disaster aid and temporarily extends authority for USDA’s livestock price reporting system.

For the second straight year, Democrats threatened but ultimately backed down from blocking Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue from getting a fresh pot of money to make payments to farmers.

Democrats reached a deal with the White House and congressional Republicans to replenish the Agriculture Department’s Commodity Credit Corp. account in exchange for banning CCC payments to oil companies and extending some pandemic-related nutrition assistance.

A pair of fiscal 2020 spending packages that will boost farm disaster relief, extend the biodiesel tax subsidy and bolster ag inspections at ports and airports easily cleared Congress on Thursday.

Congress must pass a new stopgap spending bill this week to avoid a government shutdown ahead of the Thanksgiving break, while House Democrats look to nail down a deal with the White House to clear the way for approval of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.