Oliver Ward

House GOP leaders were left searching for a way to avoid a government shutdown after the House soundly rejected the latest stopgap spending bill. FDA food chief sees some alignment with RFK, while senators form a MAHA caucus.

The future of $31 billion in disaster relief and economic assistance for farmers was in doubt  night after Elon Musk and then, Donald Trump, threatened the political future of any Republicans who voted for the 1,500-page bill that contains the funding. The Senate cleared a water resources bill intended to increase funding for inland waterway projects.

Farm groups have a lot to cheer in the massive year-end funding bill that congressional leaders finally released Tuesday evening. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson wants to take up a new farm bill early in 2025, and he says he's encouraging farm groups to "relax" about RFK Jr.

Congressional leaders were nailing down the final details of a stopgap spending bill Monday night that was expected to include $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers, as well as a one-year farm bill extension, sources tell Agri-Pulse.

A group of House Republicans has appealed to President-elect Donald Trump to negotiate trade agreements that open new markets for U.S. cotton farmers during his second term.

The chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee that handles trade policy says he’s concerned about the U.S. becoming embroiled in tit-for-tat tariff escalations that could lead to ag producers facing new duties. 

Lawmakers continue what’s described as “intense negotiations” over what’s going to be included with a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill. It’s not clear yet that GOP leaders will agree to add a package of market relief for farmers.

Former U.S. Trade Representative and trade policy architect Robert Lighthizer has so far been overlooked for key economic policy roles — a move some who worked closely with him say could hamper Trump's trade policymaking.

Seventy-seven Nobel laureates in medicine, economics, physics and chemistry are urging senators not to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.