A procedural vote on a revised GMO labeling bill should come sometime today (Wednesday) in the Senate. The debate started Monday on the revised bill by Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts that mirrors the proposal by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. Politico reports the bill would give the food industry two years to get at least 70 percent of its food products into the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s SmartLabel program before allowing the federal government to create mandatory labeling rules. Roberts said talks remained on trying to capture the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster in the Senate, allowing the bill to move forward. Roberts said he has “sound science” on his side and the bill has massive support from agriculture groups. However, Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow does not support the measure, along with Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley. Merkley introduced a mandatory labeling bill in the Senate following the Agriculture Committee’s approval of a voluntary labeling bill.

The Federal Reserve will not increase interest rates at this week’s meeting but will likely hint that rate hikes are on the horizon. Reuters reports that as long as U.S. inflation and jobs continue to strengthen, economic weakness overseas won’t stop rates from rising soon. The last time Fed officials met, uncertainty over the impact of slower growth in China and Europe drove policymakers to signal it would stay on hold. New forecast this week following the meeting are expected to indicate the possibly of two or multiple rate hikes, starting around mid-year. U.S. inflation has shown signs of stabilizing, according to data compiled by the Fed. However, Fed Chair Janet Yellen may be wary of sending too strong a signal of coming rate hikes, for fear of creating unnecessary volatility in markets.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership ratification process is getting underway in Japan. The Japanese government announced last week it is beginning efforts to ratify the trade agreement. The announcement came through a resolution that says the Japanese government will submit 11 bills to the Japanese Parliament aiming at ratifying TPP and enacting the bills required for approval, according to the U.S. Grains Council. The government intends to deliberate and pass the bills during the current session that ends June first to avoid making TPP an issue during the Japanese general election. In the United States, congressional leaders are cautious about addressing the agreement before November’s presidential election, given that many of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates have expressed opposition to the trade agreement.

USDA says Secretary Tom Vilsack will travel with President Obama to Cuba later this month. The trip will be the first visit by a sitting U.S. President in nearly 90 years to Cuba. The island country sits just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. This will be Secretary Vilsack’s second trip to Cuba. In November of last year, Vilsack led a delegation of U.S. Government officials traveling to Havana in the interest of strengthening bilateral agricultural engagement. During his visit in November, Vilsack met Cuban leadership along with farmers. USDA says Vilsack will use this second trip to Cuba to discuss opportunities for collaboration in agriculture among the United States and Cuba, to better understand how climate change is affecting agricultural production in Cuba, and continue to help American businesses interested in exporting to Cuba. The Obama administration will announce more easing of trade and travel restriction on Cuba March 17th. The President will then travel to Cuba March 21st.