Lawmakers look to get an early start this week on moving the annual spending bills, including legislation to fund USDA and FDA, and also will take long-awaited action on futures regulation and international agriculture development.

 

The Senate Agriculture Committee will finally take up a reauthorization bill for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 10 months after the House passed its version of the legislation. Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts is offering concessions in a draft bill in hopes of getting some Democratic support for the measure.

 

The House, which is back this week following its two-week Easter recess, will take a historic step by voting on the Global Food Security Act, which would provide the  first statutory authorization for the Obama's $1-billion-a-year Feed the Future initiative. The bill has been languishing for nearly a year since it emerged from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

 

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