$6 BILLION READIED FOR NEW, PERMANENT CHANGES IN FARM FINANCIAL SAFETY NET As the House of Representatives prepares to vote on the Budget Resolution for the Fiscal Years 2000-2004, Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) expressed his strong support for the resolution including a total of $6 billion in new agriculture funding authority which will allow Congress to enact permanent chang... Read more »
REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT COMMITTEE LEADERS URGE CAUTION IN NEW PLANT REGULATIONS, REQUEST EPA RE-PROPOSE PLANT-PESTICIDE RULE At a joint hearing today of two House Agriculture Subcommittees, Chairmen Tom Ewing (R-IL) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) brought together representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), industry groups, and the scientific community to review the potential effects and... Read more »
SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET RENEWS FUNDS FOR FARM LOANS By a vote of 220 to 211, passage of supplemental appropriations for the current year (H.R. 1141) includes $110 million to support $1.1 billion for loans that farmers and ranchers need to finance the season's work in the fields and pastures, and then pay back at harvest. An estimated 12,000 producers have been left without a loan source since early Fe... Read more »
SCRUTINY FOCUSES ON COST OF NEW LIVESTOCK FEEDING REGS (March 23, 1999) Concerned that the financial hardships of livestock producers will worsen under new regulations announced by the vice president, 52 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives — including Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest, Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Joe Skeen and Majority Leader Richard Armey ... Read more »
COMBEST CALLS LIFTING TRADE SANCTIONS BEST FOR FARMING AND RANCHING FAMILIES U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) declared that U.S. foreign policy should not use food as a weapon that backfires on the American farmer and rancher. There are four countries where the president has administrative authority to modify sanctions affecting agricultural goods. Combest on Frida... Read more »
USDA FACES RIGOROUS QUESTIONING OVER CROP DISASTER RELIEF DELAYS At a hearing today of the House Agriculture Committee, members led by Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) strongly rebuked Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman for the unprecedented delays in delivering crop disaster payments authorized by Congress in October 1998. Five months ago, the President signed into law H.R. 4328, an Omnibus Appro... Read more »
COMBEST ANNOUNCES $6 BILLION IN AGRICULTURE BUDGET AUTHORITY Today, the House Budget Committee will consider its Budget Resolution for Fiscal Years 2000-2004 which contains a total of $6 billion in new agriculture funding authority over four years. House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) issued the following statement: "This is nothing less than a triumph for America's farmers... Read more »
OODLATTE CRITICIZES FOREST SERVICE BUDGET REQUEST, CITES LONG HISTORY OF ADMINISTRATIVE, POLICY FAILURES At a hearing today, members of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry, led by Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), catalogued the lack of accountability and policy failures in the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and criticized the agency for its $17... Read more »
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) today announced that at 8:30 a.m. (EST) on March 18, the full Committee will hear USDA Secretary Dan Glickman's account of agricultural disaster assistance delays and the operation of other programs within the Department. "I will be most interested to hear what Secretary Glickman has to tell the Agriculture Committee regarding the eight mon... Read more »
COMBEST SHARPLY CRITICIZES USDA FOR FURTHER DISASTER RELIEF DELAYS, URGES PRESIDENT TO SIGN AGRICULTURE CREDIT LEGISLATION (H.R. 882) U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Dan Glickman today notified Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Larry Combest (R-TX) that the $2 billion Congress appropriated for farm disaster relief would not be available to producers until at least June — ... Read more »