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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Friday, May 20, 2022
Congress faces a Friday deadline to pass a massive bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, but negotiations were still far from final heading into the weekend.
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.
Democrats hope to get President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill to the finish line in December, but first they face a more urgent stalemate with Republicans ahead of Friday’s expiration of a stopgap funding bill.
Congressional Democrats, who are already struggling to agree on their signature Build Back Better spending plan, face the even more immediate task of averting a government shutdown and default.
House Democrats look to finish pulling together their $3.5 trillion tax and spending package this week, despite a fierce internal struggle over the taxes they need to pay for it and delays in finalizing $94 billion in agriculture provisions.
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.
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.
A House stopgap spending bill aimed at avoiding an Oct. 1 government shutdown would ensure that trade assistance to farmers continues and also would bolster specialty crop research and fund USDA’s coming hemp program.
House Democrats are considering a stopgap spending bill that could prevent or slow delivery of President Trump's trade aid payments to farmers after the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.