Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/4/19

The House Appropriations Committee meets at 10:30 a.m. to consider a pair of fiscal 2020 spending bills, including the $24.3 billion Agriculture-FDA measure. Appropriators might have a few bones to pick with USDA today if the bill report they released Monday is any indication: It called out the department for snubbing their requests for new details justifying Perdue's plan to relocate the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, your hostreports.

The document says USDA hasn't solicited public comment on the plan and has "flatly refused numerous requests ... to provide the initial cost benefit analysis that preceded the decision to go ahead with the proposal."

The bill itself would block Perdue from moving the agencies or bringing ERS under the control of USDA's chief economist. Democrats have increasingly questioned the USDA plan, including during the appropriations subcommittee markup last month, and it's likely to come up again today.

— Side note: Perdue is in Raleigh, N.C., today to tour a food bank facility. The state's "research triangle" is one of three finalists to host ERS and NIFA. (The others are Kansas City and multiple sites in Indiana.)

More from the spending bill report: The committee complained that USDA still has yet to provide a detailed plan for combating rural poverty that was due to appropriators in April 2016. Lawmakers also dinged USDA for being "completely unable to certify" the number of vehicles in its fleet.

Republican appropriators have generally praised the agriculture bill — but they've also warned that the lack of a provision prohibiting the use of funds for research into the genetic modification of human embryos could jeopardize GOP support and even provoke a White House veto threat.

Tune in to the markup here. (Remember, the agriculture bill isn't the only one on the committee's agenda.)
Up next: Get set for some furious floor action. Democratic leaders next week are expected to bring to the House floor a five-bill "minibus" package worth more than $1 trillion, including funds for the Energy Department and water projects, POLITICO's Sarah Ferris reports. If that megabill moves forward, the Agriculture-FDA measure could soon follow.