WHAT HAPPENED: Dr. Heidi Overton appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee yesterday for her confirmation hearing as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If confirmed, Overton, at 37, will be the youngest FDA commissioner ever. Questioning focused mainly on vaccines and the abortion drug mifepristone. HELP Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.) opened the hearing by asking Overton whether the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine is lethal; Overton replied it is not and reiterated that the vaccine is safe and effective against measles. Asked whether any vaccines currently on the market are unsafe, Overton responded that “every vaccine on the U.S. market right now is safe and effective, according to the FDA.”
ABOUT DR. OVERTON: A native of New Mexico and a preventive medicine physician who worked in both Trump administrations, she currently serves as a White House domestic policy adviser and worked on several White House health initiatives, including the revamped food pyramid.
WHY IT MATTERS: The FDA has been without a permanent leader for months. Former Commissioner Marty Makary resigned following public clashes with lawmakers, major pharmaceutical companies and the president, and Kyle Diamantas has served as acting commissioner since May 2026. While the hearing centered on human health issues, the FDA commissioner oversees policy with direct implications for animal agriculture. FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine regulates animal drugs, including antimicrobials used in poultry production and the Veterinary Feed Directive, along with animal feed safety and approval of new animal health products. The agency also regulates food additives, food labeling, and food facility inspections outside of USDA-FSIS jurisdiction. Makary also left behind unfinished projects on ultra-processed foods, an issue the incoming commissioner will inherit.
WHAT’S NEXT: Overton must win approval from the HELP Committee for her nomination to advance to a full Senate vote. A committee vote has not yet been scheduled.
Senate panel considers President Trumps’s nomination of Dr. Heidi Overton. Source: Fox Business
WHAT HAPPENED: With the House already gone, the Senate is the only chamber still in Washington. Speaker Mike Johnson sent House lawmakers home on September 16, canceling votes scheduled for the following day, so members could campaign. The Senate is scheduled to remain in session until October 2, as of now, and both chambers will return from the midterm recess on November 9. In its final days before the break, senators are expected to work on judicial nominations and other legislative issues but are not expected to release the chamber’s long-delayed fiscal year 2027 spending bills. With the government already funded through December 11, there is no must-pass deadline forcing action before the Senate leaves.
WHY IT MATTERS: Several items of interest to agriculture are unlikely to reach the Senate floor before October 2, if at all. Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman anticipates a floor vote on the farm bill after the midterm elections in November, and the bill will need enough bipartisan support to clear the 60-vote threshold. Meanwhile, the current farm bill extension expires September 30, and it remains unclear whether the Senate will act on another extension before leaving town.
WHAT’S NEXT: The post-election calendar is short. The Senate is set to return for two days the week after the election, before the Nov. 11 observation of Veterans Day. After that, the chamber returns a total of seven days prior to Thanksgiving and works three weeks in December ahead of the Christmas recess, with a target adjournment of Dec. 18. That leaves roughly four weeks of floor time to address government funding ahead of the December 11 deadline, the farm bill, defense authorization, pending nominations and any reconciliation package before the 119th Congress ends.
1996, location unknown. L-R: John Rogers, NCC Vice Chairman, B.C. Rogers Company; Unknown; Mark Simmons, Simmons Foods, NCC Chairman; Unknown; Jim Perdue, Perdue Farms, NCC Secretary-Treasurer. If you can name the two unidentified individuals, e-mail Tom Super for recognition in next week’s newsletter: [email protected]
WHAT HAPPENED: The Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday passed its version of the Farm Bill, the Agricultural Act of 2026, by a vote of 12-11, along partisan lines. The big sticking point is the Democrats’ push for at least a two-year delay for states faced with paying a portion of benefit costs under SNAP, depending on their payment error rates. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) who returned to the Senate this week after an absence since June due to a fall, was present to vote for the bill, giving Republicans a majority present to vote for it.
QUICK RECAP: The committee tried to move the measure in August, but Republican absences hindered GOP efforts. Both Sens. Mitch McConnell and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) were not present at the time.
NCC’s TAKE: “I want to thank Chairman Boozman for his leadership in advancing this important piece of legislation, and Senator Justice for his successful amendment that would add hot rotisserie chicken to the SNAP program,” said NCC President Harrison Kircher. “We are also especially appreciative that no provisions were included that would have negatively impacted the way chicken is contracted or marketed. “There are also several provisions in the bill that would positively impact chicken producers, including poultry health and disease monitoring programs, support for broiler exports, and natural disaster assistance,” Kircher added.
WHAT’s NEXT: The bill moves to the full Senate, where it will need 60 votes to pass. Assuming Senate passage, House and Senate negotiators would then convene a conference committee to reconcile differences with the House-passed Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 before a final compromise bill returns to both chambers for a vote and heads to the President’s desk.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: “We’ll get together with the House and the Senate and discuss and figure out a path,” Senate Ag Committee Chaiman John Boozman (R-Ark.) told Bloomberg. “We don’t have time to put it on the floor right now, so we’ll be conferencing until after the election.”
Senate Ag Committee Chairman John Boozman (Photo by Brent Barnett/Brownfield)
WHAT HAPPENED: Speaker Mike Johnson announced Wednesday that he is sending House members home early for their seven-week campaign recess ahead of the midterm elections. House Republicans had planned to stay in session until Thursday but instead took their final votes Wednesday evening — including a Russia sanctions bill — before leaving town. GOP leadership had already shortened the chamber’s September schedule by two weeks earlier in the month.
WHY IT MATTERS: With control of the House up for grabs in November, the early exit gives members extra time on the ground in a large number of competitive races. The map includes dozens of competitive seats, and the extended window lets both parties’ incumbents and challengers put more time into door-knocking, fundraisers, and local media in the final stretch before Election Day. The early adjournment also means any unfinished legislative business will sit until lawmakers return, giving members more to campaign on, or against, once they’re back in their districts.
WHAT’S NEXT: The House is expected to return around Nov. 9, 2026, the week following the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The Senate, by contrast, is scheduled to remain in session for the next two weeks before beginning its own recess. Per the Senate’s 2026 calendar, the chamber will then be out for the month of October and the first week of November ahead of the midterms, returning for a total of seven working days before Thanksgiving, followed by three weeks in December ahead of the Christmas recess.
