Today, by a vote of 296-135 the House of Representatives brought the first session of the 106th Congress to a close by passing a compromise final appropriation bill (H.R. 3194) which included an additional $576 million in emergency disaster assistance for agriculture and implementation of the dairy reform known as Option 1-A. "We've made a lot of progress this year on a wide variety of issues aff... Read more »
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-Texas) and Ranking Minority Member Charlie Stenholm (D-Texas) said today that China's agreement to join U.S. and European trading partners in the World Trade Organization (WTO) appears to have come on terms favorable to U.S. agricultural goods. While congratulating the work of the Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and Ambassador Charl... Read more »
As the First Session of the 106th Congress nears its end, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman making clear his expectation that the Clinton Administration will finally deliver its long-promised proposals for strengthening federal agricultural policy. The complete text of Combest's letter is available upon request. Early t... Read more »
Whether your question is about "pork bellies" or the volume of an acre-foot of water -- (and why it matters) -- the House Agriculture Committee's Internet glossary of agriculture at republicans-agriculture.house.gov offers some of the answers. The agricultural glossary locates each term among more than 1,900 entries. Many of the terms are cross-referenced and linked to other entries. Committee Ch... Read more »
H.R. 2389 would restore stability to forest communities In a bipartisan vote of 274-153, the U.S. House of Representatives today passed the County Schools Funding Revitalization Act of 1999 (H.R. 2389) which would provide rural areas with financial stability in revenues used for community schools, roads, and local forest management. "I sincerely believe that the future stability of rural education... Read more »
Preparing to lead next month's agricultural delegation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Seattle, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-Texas) hailed the president's recent granting of export credit guarantees for agricultural sales as a valuable trade tool for U.S. farmers and ranchers. U.S. export credit guarantees provide federal backing as security to the financin... Read more »
At a hearing today of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry, Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) led Members in roundly criticizing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its disregard of congressional intent and use of unscientific methods in promulgating new regulations that will potentially cost farmers, ranchers, and timber workers mil... Read more »
Today, the House Committee on Agriculture, led by Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) passed by voice vote legislation (H.R. 728) responding to the maintenance and improvement issues involving a large number of water projects originally authorized by the federal government. More than 10,000 small flood prevention dams, mainly located in Iowa, Oklahoma and Texas, have provided conservation and other econ... Read more »
After a nine-day delay, President Clinton today signed the agriculture appropriations bill (H.R. 1906) which contains $8.7 billion in emergency farm aid for income and disaster assistance and is designed to expedite delivery of the funds to producers. "I'm glad the president signed this important bill, though I don't understand why he delayed for so long," said House Agriculture Committee Chairman... Read more »
Producers desperately needing $8.7 billion in emergency aid have waited more than a week for the president's signature on the aid legislation that his spokesmen have said the president will sign -- although they will not say when. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) noted that producers could have been halfway toward receiving promised aid by now. The president's 8-day delay... Read more »
