Senators look to pass a long-stalled child nutrition bill as soon as this week and also will grill top executives of seed and chemical units about the impact of a series of planned mergers on the farm economy.

 

The bipartisan nutrition bill would reauthorize nutrition programs for five years, would ease rules on sodium and on whole grains but broadly preserves the school meal standards the Obama administration implemented under the expired Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

 

Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee are seeking unanimous consent to bring up the bill on the floor after they found a funding source to make up a shortfall in the bill after budget estimates came in higher than expected. The extra money is expected to come from fiscal 2016 savings in the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, a source said.

 

Senate passage could set up the bill to be included in a year-end fiscal 2017 spending package that lawmakers hope to pass in December. Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., was encouraged by progress on the bill last week but wasn't tipping his hand on the end game. “We'll try different things,” he said.

 

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