The Livestock and Horticulture Subcommittee held a hearing today to review USDA's National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The USDA accelerated efforts to develop an animal ID program after the December 23, 2003 discovery of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Washington State. On April 27, Secretary Veneman announced the transfer of $18.8 million for USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation... Read more »
Congressman Jerry Moran, Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management, chaired a hearing today to review the federal crop insurance program. The hearing follows up on a series of hearings held last year where producers acknowledged progress since the passage of the Agriculture Risk Protection Act of 2000, but raised some areas of ongoing concern. T... Read more »
- The House Agriculture Committee held an oversight hearing today to review the Forest Land Enhancement Program (FLEP) which is in danger of not being fully implemented in the remaining years of the program's life. The 2002 Farm Bill allocated $100 million in mandatory funding for the program; however, the program has only received $20 million of the mandatory funding to date. The Committee heard... Read more »
The House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Government Reform held a joint hearing today to review the Department of Agriculture's expanded Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) cattle surveillance program. The Committees heard from Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman as well as Inspector General Phyllis Fong. A complete list of witnesses is included at the end of this release. Th... Read more »
Goodlatte Statement Regarding Forest Service Roadless Areas Announcement "I applaud the Administration for taking these steps to resolve ongoing litigation over the fatally flawed roadless area policy. This policy, adopted by the previous administration in close collaboration with extreme environmentalists, would have severely limited access to almost one third of the National Forest System. Addit... Read more »
Congressman Frank Lucas, Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Rural Development, and Research, convened a hearing today to review biotechnology in agriculture and determine the future impact of biotechnology on world agriculture. Biotechnology has long been a priority for Lucas. Last year, his subcommittee convened a hearing which focused on the regulatory aspect... Read more »
Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, today praised United States Trade Representative Robert Zoellick for formally requesting that that the World Trade Organization (WTO) establish a dispute settlement panel (DSP) regarding Mexico's 20 percent sales tax and 20 percent distribution tax on sweetened beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup. The United States... Read more »
Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee convened a hearing today to review agriculture in Iraq and the successful food assistance operation that reached 26 million Iraqis during the transition from Saddam's Iraq to a free Iraq . The hearing also included an update on the investigations into the Oil for Food program and discussion about the future of Iraqi production ... Read more »
Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee , hailed House passage yesterday of comprehensive National Energy legislation, mark ing the fourth time the House has passed such legislation since 2001, saying this legislation is critical for rural America, job creation and national security. The legislation includes provisions crucial to the agriculture sector including the ... Read more »
Washington , DC -At a press conference this morning, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Ranking Member Charlie Stenholm, announced introduction of voluntary country-of-origin labeling legislation. Upon introduction, the bill had 13 additional cosponsors. The "Food Promotion Act of 2004," will amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to... Read more »
