Summary

• • Mark your calendars for the upcoming USDA Tribal Advisory Committee’s hybrid meeting on May 7-8, 2025, taking place in Washington D.C. Registration details are in the full policy brief.
  • The Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs is holding a series of Tribal consultations from May 20 – June 6 with Tribes to receive input from these leaders on departmental operational improvements in
  • USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service is seeking public comments about the Federal-State Supplemental Nutrition Programs Agreement.
  • There will be four congressional hearings this week covering the fiscal year 2024 agriculture budget, the Fix Our Forests Act, and nomination hearings for both the Deputy Secretary and General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture.

Calendar

Tribal Consultation/Listening Sessions/Advisory Committee Meetings

Title of Event: Indian Affairs Workforce Efficiency and Productivity – EO14210 

About: The U.S. Department of Interior Indian Affairs will conduct a series of Tribal consultations 

with federally recognized Tribes to receive formal input on how the Department and its agencies (including the Bureau of Indian Affairs) can implement operational improvements. The consultations vary in format: virtual and/or in-person.  

Date(s), Time, and Location: 

• • May 20, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Alaska Time – Alaska Register Here 

• • May 22, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time – California Register Here 

• • May 27, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mountain Time – Albuquerque Register Here 

• • May 29, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Central Time – Minnesota Register Here 

• • May 30, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time – Virtual Register Here 

• • June 3, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Central Time – Oklahoma Register Here 

• • June 5, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time – Washington, DC Register Here 

• • June 6, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time – Virtual Register Here 

Written comments must be submitted by July 7, 2025 either by email to consultation@bia.gov or by mail to the Department of the Interior, Office of Regulatory Affairs and Collaborative Action, 1001 Indian School Road NW, Suite 229, Albuquerque, NM 87104. 

• Date(s), Time and Location: 

• • May 7, 2025
  • Committee Meeting Time: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. eastern  

• Public Comment Period: 2-3 p.m. eastern 
  • May 8, 2025 
  • Committee Meeting Time: 9 a.m. -5 p.m. eastern  

• Registration Required:

Congressional Sessions:

Looking back: 

Hearing: Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry – April 29, 2025.

Topic: Hearings to examine certain pending nominations: one for Luke Lindberg as the Agriculture Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs; another one for Devon Westhill as Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.

Hearing: Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee – April 30, 2025.

Topic: Legislative hearing on the Quapaw Tribal Settlement Act of 2025 (H.R. 1451), the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Land Transfer Act of 2025  (H.R. 2302), the Quinault Indian Nation Land Transfer Act (H.R. 2389), and the Pit River Land Transfer Act of 2025 (H.R. 2400).

Looking ahead:

Hearing: Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee– May 5, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. eastern

Topic: Vaden/ Clarkson Nominations

Hearing: Senate Appropriations Committee– May 6, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. eastern

Topic: Fiscal Year 20226 Agriculture Budget

Hearing: Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee– May 6, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. eastern

Topic: Forest Management Improvement

Hearing: House Appropriations Committee– May 7, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. eastern

Topic: Fiscal Year 2026 Agriculture Budget

Regulatory/Rulemaking Actions

Title: Agency Information Collection Activities: Federal – State Supplemental Nutrition Programs Agreement (Form FNS-339)

• USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is seeking public comments about a revision to the reporting and recordkeeping burden related to the State Supplemental Nutrition Programs Agreement or Form FNS-339.
• FNS-339 is an annual contract between USDA and each State, Territory, and Indian Tribal Government agency that wish to operate nutrition programs such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP).
• This revision requested is about the burden hours due to Program adjustments that primarily reflect expected changes in the number of WIC, FMNP, and/or SFMNP State agencies from year to year.
• Comments submitted by June 30, 2025, will be considered.

Posted: Week of May 5, 2025

Title: Reauthorization of Dairy Forward Pricing Program

• USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) issued a final rule, authorized by the Relief Act of 2025, to reauthorize the Dairy Forward Pricing Program (DFPP) to allow handlers to enter into new contracts until Sept. 30, 2025, with a deadline subject to a Sept. 30, 2028, expiration date.
• The DFPP allows milk handlers to pay producers or cooperative associations of producers a negotiated price for producer milk.
• Participation in the DFPP is voluntary for dairy farmers, dairy farmer cooperatives, and handlers.
• This final rule took effect on April 24, 2025

Posted: Week of April 28, 2025

• Effective April 25, 2025, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) withdrew the proposed rule and proposed determination called the “Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products.” 
• The proposed rule and proposed determination was initially published in the Federal Register on Aug. 7, 2024. 
• After reviewing 7, 089 comments on the proposed framework, FSIS believes that the comments raised several important issues that warrant further consideration.  
• The comments received also included alternative approaches other than the proposed 2024 framework.  

Posted: Week of April 28, 2025 

• USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) seeks comments its plan to provide SNAP households advance or concurrent notice for a State agency to store unused SNAP benefits offline due to inactivity of three or more months.  
• This information collection is also about providing advance or concurrent notice to SNAP households before the State agency expunges unused SNAP benefits from the household’s Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT). 
• Tribal Governments are among the expected respondents.  
• Comments submitted by May 27, 2025, will be considered.  

Posted: Week of April 28, 2025 

• USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) is requesting comments about its request for generic clearance to conduct research improving the quality of data collection.  
• The objective is to develop, test, and evaluate the agency’s survey instruments, methodologies, technology, interview processes, and respondent recruitment protocols.  
• ERS provides research and analysis that inform policies related to agriculture, food, and the environment. 
• Comments submitted within 30 days (May 18, 2025) of this publication will be considered.  

Posted: Week of April 21, 2025 

• USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) seeks comments about a notice of the final programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) for outbreak response activities for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPIA) outbreaks in poultry in the U.S.  
• HPIA is a serious livestock disease whose first outbreak after 20 years occurred in February 2004 in Texas.  
• The final programmatic EIS offers three alternatives with the preferred being the Federal Operational Assistance with Biosecurity and Incentive Alternative.   
• Under this alternative, poultry owners and producers are expected to resume business as quickly as possible.  
• Comments submitted by May 19, 2025, will be considered.  

Posted: Week of April 21, 2025