Perdue Vote Likely Monday

Jerry Hagstrom DTN Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (DTN) — The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on the confirmation of Sonny Perdue to be President Donald Trump's agriculture secretary at the beginning of what promises to be a busy week on both Capitol Hill and at the White House.

Following a two-week congressional recess, the Senate is scheduled to convene at 3 p.m., with the vote on Perdue scheduled at 5:30 p.m.

According to a White House press pool report filed Sunday, Perdue is expected to be sworn in on Tuesday.

With the 100th day of the Trump presidency looming next Saturday, a White House official said, “Throughout this week, President Trump will continue to deliver on his promises to the American people, from thinking big about exploration and discovery again, to protecting the farmers and ranchers that feed our country, to reasserting American power on the world stage.”

On Tuesday, the president “will host a roundtable discussion with farmers and sign an executive order to protect and provide relief for rural America,” the official added.

“The Agriculture and Rural Task Force Executive Order creates an interagency task force to examine the concerns of rural America and suggest legislative and regulatory changes to address them,” Axios reported.

Details on the executive order are similar to what the Rural Council established by an executive order by President Barack Obama in June 2011.

Also, Congress must reach agreement by the end of the week on a plan to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 or face a government shutdown. Trump has also suggested there will be action this week on health care and tax reform. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, the president said the tax-reform plan will come Wednesday.

“It will be bigger, I believe, than any tax cut ever. Maybe the biggest tax cut we've ever had,” Trump said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said the focus this week will be on keeping the government open, The Washington Post reported.

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said in a blog post last week that decisions on appropriations could have an impact on the next farm bill.

Trump officials said Sunday that the president wants funding for the border wall to be included in the omnibus appropriations bill to fund the government through Sept, 30, The Washington Post reported.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence, who has just completed a tour of Asia and Australia, is cutting short his stay in Hawaii and returning to Washington to be at work on Tuesday, according to a White House pool report from Pago Pago.

A Pence aide cited the issues on deck in Washington this week, including health care, the continuing resolution to fund the government and tax reform, as the reason for the vice president's early return, the pool report said.

Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@njdc.com

Follow Jerry Hagstrom on Twitter @hagstromreport

Picture: flickr and U.S. Senate Ag Committee

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