Making only technical changes, the House Committee on Agriculture today passed by voice vote Chairman Bob Smith's (R-OR) Forest Service Cost Reduction and Fiscal Accountability Act of 1998 (H.R. 4149), legislation bringing financial and performance reforms to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). A General Accounting Office (GAO) study found that overhead charges to five off-budget fund have increased 8... Read more »
Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Bob Smith (R-OR) today announced that France has formally approved the sale of genetically modified corn to the European Union (EU) safegaurding a $200 million-plus market for American corn growers. In letters to United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, Smith and six other Members of Congress urged... Read more »
With adverse weather conditions and disease devastating farms in the Upper Midwest and the Great Plains, Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR) and a bi-partisan group of four committee members from the affected region wrote to Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today urging him to use the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to help alleviate the economic impact of these disasters. "Produc... Read more »
With proposals of regulatory changes threatening to destabiIize the over-the-counter derivatives market and send it overseas, Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR) today introduced legislation to temporarily halt Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority to regulate certain hybrid instruments and swap agreements until Congress resolves the dispute during reauthorization next year. "... Read more »
With the General Accounting Office (GAO) reporting continued abuse in the food stamp program, Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operations, Nutrition, and Foreign Agriculture, held a hearing today on his bill to put an end to food stamp payments to deceased persons by requiring increased coordination between the federal government and... Read more »
With American farmers and ranchers struggling with adverse weather conditions and low crop prices, the House of Representatives today passed the Emergency Farm Financial Relief Act (S. 2344) by voice vote, the Senate version of a bill introduced by Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR). "This bill is a sound step that we can take today that will reassure producers and their bankers that ... Read more »
Citing declining prices, multiple-year crop losses and adverse weather, Congressman Robert F. Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and Ranking Member Charlie Stenholm (D-TX) brought USDA Secretary Dan Glickman, farm economists, and producer representatives together at a hearing Thursday on the state of the nation's farm economy. "If we are to be both responsible and responsive... Read more »
Proposing financial and performance reforms for the benefit of national forest users, workers, and taxpayers, Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, brought his Forest Service Cost Reduction and Fiscal Accountability Act of 1998 (H.R. 4149) before a hearing with the USDA Forest Service officials, taxpayer groups, and constituents of national forests. A General A... Read more »
Today, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Bob Smith (R-OR) announced his strong support for legislation to consolidate and streamline authority over the Endangered Species Act (ESA) within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Smith is an original cosponsor of House Resources Committee Chairman Don Young's (R-AK) Endangered Species Consolidation Act (H.R. 4335). This legislation wou... Read more »
Appearing before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Smith stressed farmers' and ranchers' increasing reliance on export income and the importance of removing trade barriers to open world markets to agricultural producers. "In 1996, significant reforms were made to U.S. farm programs. These reforms returned control of the farming operation to the pr... Read more »
