Senate negotiators look to finalize and advance a bipartisan infrastructure bill this week, while the House debates a package of appropriations bills that would sharply increase funding for the Agriculture Department, Environmental Protection Agency and other departments and agencies important to agriculture.
 
In a flurry of activity ahead of the long August recess, the Senate Agriculture Committee will also vote on one of President Joe Biden’s top USDA nominees and hold a confirmation hearing on two others.
 
Meanwhile, on Tuesday the House Agriculture Committee will consider a two-year extension of a key disaster assistance program, known as WHIP+. The Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program was initiated as a temporary program to help producers recover from major disasters that started in 2017 and then expanded to cover natural disasters in 2018 and 2019.
 
On the global front, a UN-led initiative to jump-start progress toward eradicating hunger, shrinking agriculture’s environmental impact and addressing other sustainability goals moves to a new stage this week: The UN Food Systems Summit is holding a “pre-summit” starting Monday in Rome and online. The actual summit will take place in New York in September.
 
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