On Wednesday, the House Ag nutrition subcommittee will hold a hearing on “Stakeholder Perspectives on SNAP,” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

School meal waivers: Lawmakers are expected to discuss the quickly-approaching June 30 expiration of pandemic waivers that have allowed schools to provide free meals to all students, and eased red tape on other fronts. As MA has reported, advocates are alarmed at the coming cliff, which they argue will trigger new food insecurity issues for school-aged kids. Ag Secretary Vilsack pressed Senate Ag lawmakers to approve an extension, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who blocked a proposed extension earlier this year. On Thursday, the House Ag commodities and risk management subcommittee will hold a hearing on the commodity and crop insurance portions of the farm bill. Various lawmakers and USDA officials have been pushing to bolster crop insurance amid increasing drought and other climate disasters.

Scoop: Dems push for a rural piece of the Competition bill: House Ag Democrats Cheri Bustos (Ill.) and Cindy Axne (Iowa) are pressing Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to prioritize funding to rural communities in the conference committee negotiations for a bill focused on increasing U.S. competition with China.

In a new letter today, Bustos, Axne and a group of Democrats argue that the Biden administration should invest key portions of the package’s billions in funding in rural areas of the U.S. The lawmakers say the pieces of the bill focused on technology, economic development and supply chains would serve rural areas well, and vice versa.

“Data shows that manufacturing provides more jobs and higher earnings in rural areas than many other sectors and that rural manufacturing plants survive longer than urban ones, making rural America an ideal fit for these new, important investments,” the lawmakers write.

What’s next: The House and Senate committees are in the midst of hammering out a compromise version of the bill to the president’s desk, a process that is likely to take all summer.