As the House Committee on Agriculture works to reform federal crop insurance, the program underwent another round of close inspection during this morning's hearing of the Subcommittee on Risk Management, Research and Specialty Crops, led by Representative Tom Ewing (R-IL), the panel's chairman. The subcommittee review brought together USDA Risk Management Agency Administrator Ken Ackerman, and a d... Read more »
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-Texas) expressed renewed concern with new livestock regulations known as the Unified National Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations, announced today by the Vice President. "Last year, we put our concerns on record with the Administration about how difficult it would be for producers to meet extreme regulatory demands," said House Agriculture ... Read more »
Statement on the U.S. Trade Representative announcement regarding the European Union Banana Regime Chairman Larry Combest (R-Texas) and Ranking Minority Member Charles W. Stenholm (D-Texas) jointly issued the following statement after the U.S. Trade Representative announcement regarding the European Union Banana Regime. "We have been advised that the World Trade Organization has delayed its decis... Read more »
To bridge the gap in guaranteed farm loan funds exhausted last month, the U.S. House of Representatives considers H.R. 882 Tuesday afternoon, which would make $470 million available immediately out of other unused USDA farm loan funds. This is a stop gap measure to meet pressing credit needs, while supplemental loan authority is addressed by the President and Congress. The bipartisan measure was ... Read more »
U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-Texas) is holding Washington bureaucrats at USDA accountable for failing to deliver farm disaster aid to producers authorized by Congress nearly four-and-a-half months ago. Chairman Combest said the latest USDA-announced delay in distributing disaster relief payments push livestock relief payments until April and crop disaster checks to fa... Read more »
COMBEST CRITICIZES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR DISASTER RELIEF DELAYS Today, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) issued the following statement regarding delays in the farm disaster relief program: "It's been over four months since we gave the Secretary of Agriculture near-complete authority to administer the six billion dollar farm disaster program. To date the vast majori... Read more »
AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE'S NEBRASKA FIELD HEARING FOCUSES ATTENTION TO NATION'S AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC STATE Bill Barrett (R-NE), chairman of the General Farm Commodities Resource Conservation and Credit Subcommittee, and Members of the Committee bring together producers and agricultural economists in the year's first review of the nation's agricultural economy. The Committee field hearing begins Mond... Read more »
GOODLATTE QUESTIONS FOREST SERVICE ROADLESS POLICY Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operation, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry questioned the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) final interim rule placing a moratorium on road construction and reconstruction within the National Forest System. The rule, developed by the agency's Washington, D... Read more »
BIPARTISAN GROUP OF FARM STATE LEGISLATORS EXPRESS CONCERN OVER PROPOSED ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATION REGULATIONS A group of 36 Republican and Democratic Members of the House of Representatives today sent letters to Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Carol Browner expressing their strong belief that the proposed policies in the USDA/EPA Unifie... Read more »
AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE REVIEWS EFFECTS OF AGRIBUSINESS CONSOLIDATION Today, the House Agriculture Committee held its second hearing to review the state of the farm economy and focused on the impact of the ongoing structural consolidation of the agricultural community. "Even a casual observer can't help but be bewildered by the dizzying pace of mergers, acquisitions and restructuring going on in our... Read more »
