With economic growth and trade liberalization dramatically increasing opportunities for American farmers and ranchers, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR), at a hearing today, stressed the importance of building on past successes while continuing to remove barriers to U.S. trade. Today's hearing regarding trade in the Western Hemisphere was the final in a series of four hearings ... Read more »
At a press conference today, Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR) Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, voiced his strong support for legislation introduced by a bipartisan group of senators led by Gordon Smith (R-OR) to reform the Guest Worker Program (H2-A). A recent study by the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported that more than 40 percent of the nation's agriculture labor pool consists ... Read more »
Subcommittee Moves Smith's Strict Liability Legislation: Current Agency Policy Threatens Rural Consumers Today, the House Resources Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health discharged to the full committee legislation (H.R. 3187) introduced by Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR) to reform the strict liability policy applied to electric cooperatives, ensuring fairness for rural consume... Read more »
With the Asian financial crisis and adverse weather conditions exacting a heavy toll on American farmers and ranchers, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR), and Republican Farm State members today announced the introduction of Smith's Emergency Farm Financial Relief Act while calling on the President to use his authority to lend assistance to t... Read more »
Following the reinstatement of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Credit Guarantee Programs, Congressman Bob Smith, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, today announced that Pakistan has purchased 300,000 tons of U.S. Wheat in the July 15th tender. On July 14th, the President signed the Agriculture Export Relief Act (S. 2282), legislation with language introduced by Chairman Smith provi... Read more »
As Pakistan prepares to make tender of 350,000 tons of wheat on July 15th, the House of Representatives today unanimously passed S. 2282, amended by language introduced by Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, to provide a one-year exemption for agricultural commodities from the embargo President Clinton placed on Pakistan and India in May. Earlier today, Sm... Read more »
The House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities today in a hearing urged the Clinton Administration to support Most Favored Nation (MFN) status for China, funding for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), fast track authority, implementation of the Export Enhancement Program (EEP) for wheat and wheat flour, and the exemption of food and agriculture commodities in sanctions imposed ... Read more »
With one-third of approximately 9, 700 food tolerances to be reviewed by August 1999, Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operations, Nutrition, and Foreign Agriculture, at a hearing today sharply criticized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for not establishing protocols based on reliable scientific data as required by the Food Qu... Read more »
The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Forestry, Resource Conservation, and Research today passed legislation to provide eligibility for United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guaranteed loans to certain farmers who received debt forgiveness prior to passage of the 1996 Farm Bill. In 1987, Congress enacted the Agricultural Credit Act, which provided farmers with debt relief through loan ser... Read more »
Today the House passed by a vote of 373-48 the FY 1999 Agriculture Appropriations Act (H.R. 4101) overturing President Clinton's grain embargo, funding $56 billion in agricultural programs, and rejecting amendments which would have broken the promises made to American farmers under the 1996 Farm Bill. As passed by the House today, H.R.4101 protects U.S. farmers from the wide-ranging sanctions Pres... Read more »
