By Steven Harris, Director, Policy Development and Regulatory Compliance, Food Marketing Institute 

It is mid-September, and Congress still has a number of deadlines ahead as we close out the fiscal year.  Government funding is front and center with September 30 less than two weeks away.  Lawmakers must also address the expiring authorization of child nutrition programs, the timing of which remains uncertain after the Senate Agriculture postponed a scheduled markup this week.

The House took action last Thursday to allow for a speedier legislative process to pass a continuing resolution.  The so-called "martial law" procedure would waive a two-thirds requirement to move forward on matters reported out of the Rules Committee.  This could potentially allow the House to vote on a CR as early as September 24 or 25.  The Senate must also approve any measure passed by the House before September 30 to avoid a government shutdown.  To complicate matters a little more, Pope Francis will be visiting Washington, D.C. this week and will address a joint session of Congress on Thursday.  This week, the House is out of session Monday through Wednesday in observance of Yom Kippur, and the Senate will have limited voting.

FMI's Food Protection Committee met in the FMI offices last week for a three-day meeting.  The meeting covered several food safety related topics, including the latest FSMA final rules.  FDA's Felicia Billingslea presented to the FPC on the agency's menu labeling rule and discussed the draft guidance released earlier this month. 

For more updates and government relations resources, visit www.fmi.org/government-affairs or follow up on twitter at @FMI_GR.