Major farm states are likely to lose influence in the U.S. House because of population shifts that are expected to result in lost seats across the Midwest as well as in Pennsylvania and New York.

The 117th Congress is officially underway with the swearing in of new members Sunday. The House includes a number of new members who could play a role in shaping food and agriculture policy, considering its importance to their districts.

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.

Congressional Republicans are hoping to win back the House this November, and the lawmaker leading the GOP campaign operation says that districts with rural and agricultural areas will be critical to winning the necessary 17 seats.

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.

The House overwhelmingly approved the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on a 385-41 vote Thursday, sending the new North American trade pact to the Senate, where it should pass easily early next year.

Mexico is withdrawing its objection to a labor provision in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that threatened to derail the USMCA approval process, which is expected to take a major step forward this week in the U.S. House of Representatives.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says negotiations to bring the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to the House floor are ongoing, but procedural steps required once a deal with the Trump administration is secured could push a vote into the new year.

The Senate on Thursday cleared legislation raising the limit for farms to qualify for reorganizing their debts under agricultural bankruptcy law.