Senate Agriculture Committee

Six-term incumbent Thad Cochran, the Republican leader on the Senate Agriculture Committee, has a 16-point lead, 40-24, over Democrat Travis Childers for re-election to the Senate from Mississippi, says Public Policy Polling. PPP says "voters are still deeply divided over the general election" with 31 percent undecided. Childers leads 37-36 against state Sen Chris McDaniel, who lost a runoff to Cochran. PPP said 39 percent of Republicans "think that McDaniel should not concede the race to Cochran."

Six-term incumbent Thad Cochran, the Republican leader on the Senate Agriculture Committee, won the GOP run-off in Mississippi by 2 percentage points over state Sen Chris McDaniel, a Tea Party favorite.

The House passed, 265-144, its bill to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the regulator of the vast derivatives market.

The Senate Agriculture Committee opened work on reauthorization of child nutrition programs, including school lunch, with a 90-minute hearing that hailed the role of good nutrition in academic success and long-term health.

The president of the National Parent Teacher Association, Otha Thornton, is among witnesses scheduled for a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on child nutrition programs today at 10 a.m. ET.

The Republican Senate primary election in Mississippi "has become the nastiest, and most personal, in the nation," says the New York Times with one week left until election day. The race between six-term incumbent Thad Cochran, the Republican leader on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and state Sen Chris McDaniel "represents the last chance for Tea Party activists to topple an incumbent."

Two weeks ahead of the Republican Senate primary in Mississippi, a new poll puts challenger Chris McDaniel ahead of incumbent Thad Cochran, the GOP leader on the Senate Agriculture Committee, 43-40, with 15 percent undecided. The poll of 505 likely voters is the first in six weeks and was conducted last week, says Pollster.

Sen Debbie Stabenow and Rep Collin Peterson told NAAJ they were optimistic the administration will set a higher mandate for biofuels consumption this year than it initially proposed.

The heat-and-eat "spat" could lead to Republican attempts to end the Low Income Energy Assistance Program and so-called categorical eligibility for food stamps, especially if the GOP gains control of the Senate...

Mike Conaway of Texas, chairman of the House Ethics Committee, said he began the footwork last year to succeed Frank Lucas as chairman of the Agriculture Committee in 2015.

Three nominees for CFTC commissioner, including Timothy Massad for chairman, were approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to vote on April 8 on three nominees for commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, including Timothy Massad for chairman.