On Sunday, October 16, Chairman Bob Goodlatte led a bipartisan delegation of Members from the House Agriculture Committee to the Louisiana Gulf Coast on a tour to view the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The delegation toured port facilities, examined food distribution operations, viewed crop and livestock loss, and met with agricultural producers. “The gulf coast region has bee... Read more »
House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte will lead a Congressional delegation of Committee Members to the Gulf Coast this weekend to view the damage and recovery efforts from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Preliminary estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) attribute $882 million in total crop, livestock and aquaculture losses to Hurricane Katrina. The delegation plans to... Read more »
Chairman Bob Goodlatte, together with Senator Saxby Chambliss, sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman today outlining their expectations for the outcome of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agriculture negotiations in Doha, Qatar. In meetings with Ambassador Portman and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, Chairman Goodlatte has expressed frustration that U.S. products don’t enjoy ... Read more »
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte today chaired the first Congressional markup of eminent domain legislation to address a recent controversial Supreme Court decision. H.R. 3405, the “Strengthening the Ownership of Private Property (STOPP) Act of 2005,” was introduced with bipartisan support in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London granting local go... Read more »
Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Chairman Jerry Moran today chaired a hearing to review the state of the U.S. farm economy and the impact of Federal policy on agriculture. Net cash farm income levels reached record highs in each of the past two years; however, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts for 2005 indicate a $10.7 billion dip in net farm inco... Read more »
The House today passed a bill to reauthorize the United States Grain Standards Act. The bill, S.1752, was introduced in the Senate and passed by unanimous consent last week and was taken up on the House Floor under suspension this afternoon. Since both the House and Senate passed identical legislation, the bill will be sent to the President to be signed into law. The Grain Standards Act was set to... Read more »
Subcommittee on Livestock and Horticulture Chairman Robin Hayes today held a hearing to review the development of a private sector-based national animal identification system (NAIS). Last week, Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte held a full committee hearing to review the implementation of private sector-based systems in Australia and Canada. In July, Hayes, Goodlatte and other Members o... Read more »
Today House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte spoke at a press conference celebrating the 10th year of biotechnology crop planting in the United States. In those ten years, 1 billion acres of biotechnology crops have been planted and harvested. The press event was part of the House Biotechnology Caucus’s Food and Agriculture Biotechnology Exhibition that featured visual presentations... Read more »
Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Congressman Marion Berry (D-AK) today introduced H.R. 3857, the “Temporary Agricultural Labor Reform Act of 2005,” legislation to modernize and improve the flexibility of the temporary visa program (H-2A), permitting foreign workers to enter the U.S. on a temporary or seasonal basis to engage in unskilled agricultural work. “The U.S. needs a better guest worker program f... Read more »
Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman today held a press conference during which they discussed their expectations about the agricultural negotiations for the forthcoming Doha Round of trade negotiations scheduled for December in Hong Kong. “First and foremost, market access is critical. If the agricultural negotiations are going to... Read more »
