House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-Texas) expressed concern regarding reports the president may fail to live up to crop insurance reform, promised during his State of the Union Address: "The president seems to be repeating an all-too familiar pattern of promises without performance. His budget proposal must not fail to include meaningful funding for meaningful change in crop ins... Read more »
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) issued the following statement regarding President Clinton's promise to support Congress in providing effective risk management for American farmers and ranchers: "I was pleased to hear that the president realizes that we need to provide our farmers with a better safety net as we move towards a market-based agricultural economy. While he di... Read more »
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-Texas) issued the following statement regarding Friday's Clinton Administration announcement of limited payments to hog producers: "Weather and market forces have taken a disastrous toll on livestock producers with clear, personal consequences to their futures. The Administration's plan to shift dollars around sadly amounts to only a drop in th... Read more »
After months of uncertain fate in America's farm states, the House passed the omnibus appropriations act by a vote of 333-95 which contains almost $6 billion in farm disaster and market loss assistance and important tax relief to help alleviate the burden facing U.S. farmers and ranchers. "Many farmers and ranchers struggle each year to keep their heads above water and they are particularly hard h... Read more »
With the General Accounting Office (GAO) reporting continued abuse in the food stamp program, Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operations. Nutrition, and Foreign Agriculture, announced that the House passed S. 1733 yesterday, the Senate-passed version of his bill (H.R. 4366), to put an end to food stamp payments to deceased persons by requ... Read more »
In the final days of the 105th Congress, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Bob Smith (R-OR) announced that the House of Representatives and the Senate unanimously passed the Plant Patent Amendments Act of 1997, a bill to protect patent owners against the unauthorized sale of plant parts taken from illegally reproduced plants. "This bill addresses an issue that has long needed clarificati... Read more »
After continued pressure from members of Congress, including House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR), and in the face of imminent legislation, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced today that the United States will retaliate, consistent with WTO guidlines, to force the European Union (EU) to comply with WTO panel decisions regarding bananas and beef hormones. The WTO has det... Read more »
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR) and 19 of his Western state colleagues today sent a letter to President Clinton urging him not to use a federal government shutdown for political gain under the guise of "protecting the environment." "We are deeply disappointed by reports from Vice President Gore that you intend to veto several spending bills over so-called "environmental rider... Read more »
In response to concerns that non-tariff barriers may place an unequal burden on U.S. farmers and ranchers seeking to export their products to Canada, Chairman Bill Barrett (R-NE) held a hearing of the Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities today to review questions of equity in U.S./Canadian trade. Agricultural producers, Rep. Rick Hill (R-MT), and representatives from the Food and A... Read more »
As thousands of farmers and ranchers face economic ruin due to adverse weather conditions and low crop prices, the Senate passed farm disaster relief legislation included in the Agricultural Appropriations Act (H.R. 4101) by a vote of 55-43 sending the vital legislation to the President for his signature. "There is only one person that stands between American farmers and ranchers and over $4 billi... Read more »
