Mississippi Rep. Alan Nunnelee, a fiscal and social conservative who was the second-ranking Republican on House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, died on Friday at age 56, only a few weeks into his third term in Congress. Funeral services were scheduled for this afternoon in Tupelo, Miss. Appropriations chairman Hal Rogers said Nunnelee was “ever-willing to dig down and get the hard work done.” Nunnelee defeated incumbent Democrat Travis Childers as part of the 2010 electoral wave that gave Republicans control of the House. He had been ill for the past year, said USA Today.