By JIM RUTLEDGE

D.C. Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the nation’s farmers and others look forward to fatter paychecks next month as a result of the recently passed tax reform bill that cut individual income tax rates and chopped future corporate taxes, farmers also face a new farm bill in 2018 and possible changes to U.S. trade policies as talks continue with Canadian and Mexican officials.

These are just two of the highlights in 2018 as the 115th Congress is back to work. It first must tackle a looming deadline at the end of next week to head off shutting down the government and passing a long-term spending bill for the next year.

Since last September’s first deadline to pass a budget deal, Congress has turned to kicking the can down the road, passing a continuing budget resolution in December to extend to a Jan. 19 vote, or again setting up new deadline for another month.

And there are budget issues facing both the Republicans and Democrats that each side wants included in the deal before they can agree on how much to spend of the taxpayers’ money for the next 12 months.

Also next week is the Jan. 16 deadline for the public to file comments with the U.S. EPA on the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan, which, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, is an example of the previous administration’s “regulatory overreach that would harm the economy, rural communities and America’s farmers and ranch farmers.”

Email comments are being accepted at a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov or go to www.regulations.gov for instructions of other methods for submitting comments for Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0355.

Between Jan. 23-28, negotiators for the United States, Mexico and Canada will face one other in Montreal for their sixth round of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) talks to renegotiate a trade deal that has seen some agreement over the past year – but disagreements continue over manufacturing, dairy and how to solve trade disputes.

The U.S. is blaming Canada over its Class 7 nationwide dairy supply management system, claiming the nation is blocking U.S. dairy exports to protect its domestic market while at the same time subsidizing its own exports and stealing market share from the U.S. This is according to Kenneth Bailey, an economist with the Seattle-based dairy cooperative Darigold.

Then there’s February, as tens of millions of workers are supposed to see changes to their take-home pay as withholdings will change under the new tax law. Corporate income tax rates are cut to 21 from 35 percent, which could have a dramatic effect on farm business income that for the past several years has seen as much as a 46 percent drop.

In March, negotiators are hoping to wrap up the NAFTA talks in Montreal – as opposed to a drawn-out World Trade Organization battle over unresolved differences.

From Europe, the European Commission is expected to announce its decision on March 5 about whether to approve the $63.5 billion merger of the German chemical company Bayer AG with U.S. seed giant Monsanto Co. In December, the European Union told Bayer it was seeking additional concessions before it would approve the deal.

The EPA is scheduled to announce in April the results of its review of the “Mid-term Evaluation” (MTE) of the Clean Air Act for fuel efficiency and gas emissions standards. The criteria was set in 2012 by the Obama administration for most vehicles, including farm equipment and tractors, and the review is of whether the standards should be adjusted for model years 2022-25 or kept as they are.

The Trump White House had ordered the EPA to redo the MTE, claiming the previous administration had rushed through the process that as a result projected a cost of $200 billion to the vehicle industry to comply with its rules. Thirteen states have warned the EPA if it rolls back the standards, they will sue the federal agency.

In Congress, the House Agriculture Committee has begun drafting the 2018 farm bill, and to help farmers and others follow the progress of the legislation, the committee has established a new website to monitor the bill. The website is at https://agricultue.house.gov/farmbill

Nearly $490 billion was approved in the 2014 farm bill, including about 80 percent of it for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Last May, the White House proposed slashing $228 billion over the next decade in the new farm bill, aiming to cut 25 percent from SNAP.

Campaigning for this year’s midterm elections will generate headlines as voters prepare to head to the polls Nov. 9 to fill seats in the 116th Congress. In the Senate, 34 seats are up for grabs, 26 held by Democrats. Currently, there are 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats.

In the House, all 435 seats are up for election, 239 held by the Republican Party. Just 218 seats are needed to control the House. At the state level, 36 governorships face election in 2018.