Foster Farms has reopened a poultry processing plant in Livingston, Calif., after shutting it for a week to conduct thousands of COVID-19 tests on employees and conduct “deep cleaning” of the facilities.

A key senator involved in developing the Republican coronavirus relief package for farmers defended the broad authority it gives to USDA to spend $20 billion in farm aid, but he said the Trump administration likely will need to provide assurances about how the money will be spent.

A $1 trillion coronavirus relief package that Senate Republicans are trying to finalize would authorize compensation to livestock and poultry producers and also aid ethanol plants as well as additional direct payments to farmers, a key senator said Thursday.

Farm groups and their Senate allies are making their final pitches to Capitol Hill for billions in additional aid as lawmakers look to pass what is expected to be the last major coronavirus relief package this year.

China’s livestock sector is booming even as the country recovers from African swine fever, and the country’s demand for feed is fueling optimism for U.S. corn and soybean exports in the 2020-21 marketing year, which begins Sept. 1.