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Smith Leads Northwest Members in Urging Action to Protect Juvenile Salmon

| Posted in Press Releases

With preliminary environmental reports indicate that 20-50 percent of the juvenile salmon entering the lower Columbia River Estuary are consumed by birds, Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR) today sent a letter signed by nine Pacific Northwest colleagues to Regional Director Anne Badgely urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take action to reduce avian predation. "The regional electric ratepayers,...

House Agriculture Committee to Feature First-Ever Congressional Hearing Over Internet

| Posted in Press Releases

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR), today announced that beginning Wednesday, September 23 in the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Nutrition, and Foreign Agriculture, all committee and subcommittee hearings will be made available to the public through a live audio feed over the internet. "For the first time ever, people will be able to hear the Committee's proceedings as t...

Speaker Gingrich, Chairman Smith, Farm State Legislators Unveil $3.9 Billion Farm Relief Package

| Posted in Press Releases

As thousands of farmers and ranchers face economic ruin due to adverse weather conditions and low crop prices, House Speaker Newt Gingrich and House Agriculture Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR) joined farm state legislators today to unveil a farm relief legislative package that will help alleviate the crisis currently facing American farmers and ranchers. "American farmers and ranchers are facing the har...

Administration Delivers Shell of a Proposal

| Posted in Press Releases

After months of requests for an Administration proposal to alleviate the current farm crisis, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman today presented general guidelines to the House Agriculture Committee, but failed to provide the necessary details and funding estimates that would contribute meaningfully to Congressional efforts. "We, in Congress, could develop an economic assistance program to...

Smith Blasts Democrats for Playing Politics with Farm Crises

| Posted in Press Releases

As thousands of American farmers and ranchers face economic ruin, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR) took House Democrats to task today for using the current farm crisis for political gain, while wasting time that could be spent finding real solutions. Today, Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) offered a motion to instruct House Conferees to accept Senate-passed language providin...

Smith Calls on President to Make Good on Promises to Farmers

| Posted in Press Releases

After President Clinton spoke to farmers about the crisis they currently face, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR) called on President Clinton to begin matching his actions to his rhetoric by submitting to Congress the Farm Disaster Assistance Agenda he promised American farmers and ranchers in August. "The President talks a good game when it comes to the farm crisis, but the fac...

Smith Leads Northwest Delegation Members in Fight to Save Bonneville Power

| Posted in Press Releases

Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, sent a letter Friday signed by sixteen members of the Pacific Northwest Congressional Delegation urging House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Joe McDade (R-PA) to remove language from the Energy and Water Appropriations Act repealing the current ban on studying the possibility of selling power marketin...

Smith, Agriculture Committee Members Urge Tax Reforms to Protect Farmers, Ranchers

| Posted in Press Releases

With U.S. farmers and ranchers facing severe economic stress, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR), in a letter signed by 22 Republican House members, urged House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-TX) to pursue several items of tax policy to help America's farmers and ranchers. In their letter, the Members urged Chairman Archer to pursue immediate, full deductibilit...

Egypt Purchases an Additional 440,000 Tons of U.S. Wheat, Spain Buys 112,000 Tons of U.S. Corn Following Committee Trade Mission

| Posted in Press Releases

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR) today announced that Egypt and Spain have both made large purchases of U.S. grain on the heels of the Committee's August trade mission to Egypt and Spain. Continuing the Agriculture Committee's efforts to open up foreign markets for U.S. farmers and ranchers, Smith led an agricultural trade delegation, consisting of 6 Members of Congress, to Eg...

European Union Corn Tender Follows Committee Trade Mission to Spain

| Posted in Press Releases

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR) today announced that U.S. corn growers will have an opportunity to sell up to 200,000 tons of corn to the European Union (EU) in a tender which follows on the heels of a committee's August trade mission to Spain. Continuing the Agriculture Committee's efforts to open up foreign markets for U.S. farmers and ranchers, Smith led an agricultural tr...