House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte issued the following statement today regarding a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel that rejected Canada’s challenges to a determination by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that U.S. lumber producers are threatened with material injury by imports of dumped and subsidized softwood lumber from Canada: “The decisi... Read more »
House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte chaired a hearing to review recent litigation on Forest Service firefighting and forest health efforts. In September, a California district court ruled in the Earth Island Institute v. Ruthenbeck case that projects proposed by the Forest Service under Categorical Exclusions (CE) were subject to the notice, comment, and appeal provisions of the ... Read more »
Yesterday, House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte chaired a hearing to review the agricultural negotiations in the Doha Development Round. In October, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman submitted a comprehensive trade proposal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to jumpstart the negotiations in Geneva. The Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference will convene in Hong Kong December 13-1... Read more »
House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte issued the following statement in response to the European Union’s (EU) recent WTO proposal: “We recently received a summary of the EU’s WTO proposal and while we will review the entire package, I was immediately discouraged by their demand for an international geographical indications register. Geographical indications are a means by which pro... Read more »
House Committee on Agriculture passed the agriculture reconciliation package proposed by Chairman Bob Goodlatte by a vote of 24-20 in today’s mark-up. The total package includes $3.7 billion in savings, a 23 percent increase over the $3 billion required in the reconciliation instructions included in the Budget Resolution passed by the House and Senate in April 2005. “I am pleased that the Committe... Read more »
House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte today released an outline of the contents of the budget reconciliation package the Committee plans to mark-up Friday morning. The total package includes $3.7 billion in savings, a 23 percent increase over the $3 billion required in the reconciliation instructions from the Budget Resolution. “The Committee is committed to a fiscally responsible ... Read more »
House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte today chaired a hearing to examine the impact that transportation on the Mississippi River is having on agricultural markets. The Mississippi River is a vital part of the U.S. agricultural infrastructure. Roughly 1 billion bushels of grain, or 60 percent of U.S. grain exports, traverse its waters annually. Damage caused by Hurricane Katrina tem... Read more »
Chairman Bob Goodlatte today issued the following statement in response to a letter sent by U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Under Secretary J.B Penn: “Today, Under Secretary Penn sent a letter informing Members that the USDA has decided to set aside the “FSA Tomorrow” approach and timetable while continuing to engage in dialogue with Members and industry group... Read more »
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 »
