Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 2/5/18

Congress will likely pass a fifth short-term government spending bill this week to continue to cover spending for fiscal 2018, even after many Republican lawmakers backed the last one only because they thought it would be the last. If no spending deal can be reached, another government shutdown could start by the end of the week.

The House could vote as early as Wednesday on a spending bill that authorizes spending through March 22. That would buy leaders another six weeks to work out a long to-do list including: budget caps, a long-term omnibus appropriations package, disaster-relief funding, and Democrats' demands to secure protection for the so-called Dreamers, or undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United State as children. 

Spending fights may delay farm bill: The longer Congress takes to sort out major agreements on government spending, the later it could push action on the farm bill, which expires Sept. 30.

Provisions in the House-passed $81 billion disaster relief package on cotton and dairy programs also would have major implications for the amount of money available to agriculture lawmakers crafting the farm bill by boosting its baseline.

Both Sen. Pat Roberts and Rep. Mike Conaway, the chairmen of the respective Senate and House Agriculture committees, have said that Congress enacting such provisions would make passing a farm bill on time a lot easier because it would get two of the more contentious issues out of the way. There's also the added challenge of securing floor time; if spending battles continue to dominate Congress' attention, that becomes limited.