Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 9/27/21

GET READY FOR ANOTHER LONG WEEK: The House Budget Committee advanced a $3.5 trillion reconciliation spending bill over the weekend, bringing billions in climate research, forest management and rural development one step closer to a floor vote, report POLITICO’s Jennifer Scholtes and Caitlin Emma . And the chamber is expected to begin debate on the bipartisan infrastructure package today with a final vote later this week, just in time for the expiration of the surface transportation authorization.

Full steam ahead: In a letter to her caucus on Saturday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi touted the Budget Committee markup, while noting that the package will change before she brings it to a floor vote as "negotiations continue with the Senate."

"The next few days will be a time of intensity," the speaker wrote.

What we know about the missing ag pieces: House Ag Democrats are still working to include conservation and debt relief provisions that did not make it into the text in time for the committee markup. A $28 billion conservation provision is expected to include billions in funding for cover crop production, voluntary conservation programs and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, according to documents obtained by POLITICO last week.

But the debt relief provisions have not begun circulating Capitol Hill despite Senate Ag Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) telling reporters that they are done and written. Stabenow on Friday said the provisions are expected to help small and socially disadvantaged farmers while addressing concerns the courts have raised over the last round of debt relief for farmers of color passed in March.

“We’ve been working closely with Justice Department, and USDA, and how we revise what we did meets the test of the courts in a way that still maintains the goals of what we want to do around equity and broadening that out to small farmers but still being focused on impoverished areas and parts of the country that are most in need,” Stabenow said during a Farm Aid town hall.

What’s next: The next stop for the reconciliation package is the Rules Committee, where the missing agriculture provisions could be added before the measure heads to the floor for a vote.

We didn’t forget about BIF: Showing movement on the social spending package is especially important now, since Pelosi faces pressure to call up the separate infrastructure package that top Democrats have tried to advance in tandem with the social spending plan.

In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi announced the start of debate on the infrastructure package today with a vote scheduled for Thursday.

What’s in that for ag? The bipartisan infrastructure package would spend $550 billion on broadband expansion, climate action, water infrastructure and roads, bridges and highways. That includes $2 billion for the Agriculture Department, including the ReConnect Program, to expand broadband in rural areas. And billions for carbon removal projects, forest management, tree planting and the Emergency Watershed Restoration Program.