U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck, testifying at the fifth in a series of Agriculture Committee forest health hearings, today supported the concept of active forest management, saying the Forest Service must "use all available tools" to manage it's federal forests, effectively endorsing Congressman Bob Smith's (R-OR) direction on forest health. At today's hearing, the Agriculture Committee ex... Read more »
Rep. Larry Combest (R-TX), Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Forestry, Resource Conservation, and Research, today began a series of hearings to thoroughly examine our nation's agriculture research infrastructure for the first time in fifteen years, as the Committee prepares to reauthorize agriculture research programs prior to the end of this fiscal year. The 1996 Farm Bill reautho... Read more »
Contending that new tax legislation can end the erroneous application of detrimental internal revenue service rulings for farmers, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR) and all five of the Committee's Subcommittee Chairmen have written Ways and Means Committee Bill Archer (R-TX), urging that Archer's Committee reassess the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) provisions of it's tax bill i... Read more »
The House Committee on Agriculture today approved instructions for budget reconciliation, committing $1.5 billion in new food stamp funds as required by the balanced budget agreement, but also allowing states to privatize administrative functions in the food stamp program, just weeks after the Clinton Administration rejected a similar request from the state of Texas. The House Budget Resolution fo... Read more »
On the heels of a request from Oregon Congressman Bob Smith, Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today granted an additional $25 million--$50 million since May 29--in credit guarantees to Pakistan under the GSM-102 Export Credit Program, purchasing power the Pakistanis are expected to use for the purchase of soft white wheat. ON THE HEELS OF A ... Read more »
Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, today intensified the Committee's scrutiny of forestry issues, opening comprehensive series of forest health hearings in June and continuing the Committee's effort to develop an objective, scientific evaluation of our nation's forests in preparation for potential forest health legislation. Opening the first of the Commit... Read more »
By signing up only 16 million acres in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the Clinton Administration is failing to serve American farmers or the highly erodible and other enivronmentally sensitive lands CRP is designed to protect, Oregon Congressman Bob Smith, Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, said today. Smith, who led congressional efforts to alleviate uncertainty for producer... Read more »
Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, today strongly defended the U.S. Forest Service's Timber Purchaser Road Credit Program, as a key House Subcommittee met to evaluate a newly-released price waterhouse report concluding that the Road Credit Program is not a subsidy to timber purchasers. The report, prepared by Price Waterhouse and The Federal Budget Consul... Read more »
While problems exist and must be corrected, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is nonetheless working very well for American agriculture, Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, told the International Trade Commission (ITC) in testimony today. Smith, who has made reducing trade barriers and encouraging exports of U.S. farm products the highest pri... Read more »
Oregon Congressman Bob Smith, Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, today said good riddance to a controversial and ill-advised provision of the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1997 (H.R. 1469) placing 14 million acre cap on the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), striking the cap from the bill on the House floor. "The Conservation Reserve Program is a tremendous success story; it des... Read more »
