With agriculture trade constituting the largest positive item in the U.S. trade balance, the House Agriculture Committee, led by Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR), continued it's work toward reducing trade barriers and encouraging trade talks with officials representing the European Union. Smith, who represents Oregon's Second Congressional District, has made opening markets for American agricultural expo... Read more »
Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, yesterday intorduced legislation to bring fairness to the state water adjudication process by halting the federal government's exemption from state fees and costs related to processing federal agency water claims. Smith introduced "The Water Adjudication Fee Fairness Act," to reform a 1952 law that required Federal agenc... Read more »
After organizing a meeting of the Northwest Energy Caucus to discuss the future of Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) today, Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, criticized arguments against federal support of power marketing administrations for their lack of substance and accuracy in testimony submitted to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy... Read more »
Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, today encouraged USDA Secretary Dan Glickman and other administration officials to expand upon the gains made in previous international trade agreements hearing to review 1999 World Trade Organization (WTO) multilateral negotiations on agricultural trade concerning Europe. "I do not believe that the 1999 WTO negotiations... Read more »
Congressman Bob Smith (R-Or), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, and Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), called on the United States Department of the Interior (DOI), to create a more flexible plan to resolve long-term water issues facing Oregon's Klamath Basin. In a March 12 letter to Patricia Beneke, DOI Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, the Oregon Congressmen criticized the DOI 1... Read more »
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims today passed Chairman Smith's guest worker legislation (H.R. 3410) by voice vote. The bill wil now go on to full committee consideration. A recent study by the federal General Accounting office (GAO) reported that more than 40 percent of the nation's agriculture labor pool consists of illegal aliens. While other estimates have gone as high... Read more »
Agriculture Department failure ti enact needed reforms in USDA farm loan programs has received criticism from Larry Combest (R-TX), Chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Forestry, Resource Conservation, and Research. While USDA revealed plans during a Wednesday agriculture subcommittee hearing to restore loan eligibility for borrowers with past debt relief, Subcommittee Chairman Combest rais... Read more »
Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operations, Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture, joined Second Harvest, the nation's largest charitable hunger relief organization, in releasing the report, "Hunger 1997: The Faces & Facts," at a news conference today on Capitol Hill Congressman Bob Goodlatte's Second Harvest Press Conference Statement "Welcome ... Read more »
The full House Committee on Agriculture, chaired by Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), today passed the Forest Recovery and Protection Act (H.R. 2515), Smith's nationwide forest health legislation to provide for better forest science, greater agency accountability, and on-the-ground results to rehabilitate and protect America's precious forest resources. The Committee approved Smith's Forest Recovery a... Read more »
Acting to help the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prepare for the "Year 2000 Problem" and to end years of wasteful USDA spending on Information Technology (IT), the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Nutrition, and Foreign Agriculture today unanimously passed Chairman Goodlatte's (R-VA) "USDA Year 2000 Compliance Enhancement Act", granting the USDA's Chief Information Officer the additi... Read more »
