Lawmakers are back in Washington after the August recess, and agriculture issues are part of a long list of unfinished business. Washington Analyst Jim Wiesemeyer says time is short to avoid a government shutdown. “We’ve only got about 14 legislative days to act before the fiscal year ends. I think there’ll be a short-term extension, no long-term.” Wiesemeyer says farmers should keep a close watch on the Commodity Credit Corporation. “The biggies, as far as agriculture is concerned, are in the appropriations bill; there’s always a replenishment of USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation funding or borrowing authority. It’s set to a maximum of $30 billion. It’s much under that now, so that becomes more important as the months tick off here at the end of this year, because it’s widely expected that at some juncture, some type of an additional economic aid package will be announced for the ag sector, and it will probably come out of the CCC.”
