Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 5/7/18

Lawmakers return to Washington this week with a lengthy to-do list for aggies.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will be the special guest at a House majority whip meeting this evening as House Republicans try to move the farm bill to the floor, we reported Friday. Perdue has been supportive of the measure, saying last month that the legislation "closely aligns" with the farm bill priorities laid out by USDA.

Meanwhile in the upper chamber: Senate ag leaders Pat Roberts and Debbie Stabenow are still negotiating their version of the sweeping legislation. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said during an Agri-Pulse podcast last week that he'll try to schedule a full Senate vote as soon as possible. "We'll be in conference hopefully before the summer's out resolving the differences," McConnell said. He also wants his bill to legalize hemp in the chairman's version. McConnell hopes that farmers growing hemp will then be eligible to be covered by crop insurance.

Appropriations measure: The House Appropriations Committee's agriculture panel will hold a markup of the chamber's fiscal 2019 Agriculture-FDA appropriations bill on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Pros, we'll let you know when the text of bill is released.

Nominations piling up: The Senate still has a number of USDA nominees awaiting confirmation. The White House added to the docket on Friday when Trump selected Mindy Brashears as his choice for next USDA undersecretary for food safety. She is director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University.

She was also an important witness for Beef Products Inc. in its defamation suit against ABC News in the "pink slime" case. Perdue praised Brashears' nomination and called for the Senate to quickly confirm her, along with other stalled nominees.