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President-elect Joe Biden is out with a $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal that includes some significant new food assistance provisions, including an extension through the summer of the 15% increase in SNAP benefits provided by the COVID aid package enacted in December.

An extension of the 15% boost in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and more money for the Women, Infants and Children program are included in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package President-elect Joe Biden plans to propose to Congress.

Members of the American Farm Bureau Federation gathered virtually Thursday to assess the changes the organization would pursue in its lengthy policy book.

Lawmakers can now turn their eyes toward next Wednesday when Joe Biden will be inaugurated as president after Donald Trump was impeached by the House for a second time. The Senate won’t take up the impeachment before Trump leaves office.

As the climate policy debate ramps up in Congress and the incoming Biden administration, there are a variety of ideas about how to measure, incentivize and regulate more sustainable practices. The 2021 Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit will offer a chance to engage with a wide variety of policy makers and industry experts about what changes may be on the horizon.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is urging President Donald Trump to reject small refinery exemptions from being granted by the Environmental Protection Agency.

President-elect Joe Biden names former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power to run the U.S. Agency for International Development, a position Biden says will be elevated in importance under his administration.

Lawmakers have their focus on impeachment for now, but Democratic leaders are likely to try to pivot quickly over the next weeks as President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Climate policy as well as immigration and tax reform will be on the agenda for the Senate.

New faces will head key departments as the Biden administration takes office Jan. 20, and their actions on regulations affecting agriculture and rural America may differ sharply from the last four years.

Ag groups are more than happy with the choice of Michael Regan, secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality, to be the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, citing his experience working with the farming community in North Carolina and the Biden administration’s extensive outreach to farm groups thus far.