Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns Archive
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Contact:
Bethany Shively,
202-347-0228, or bshively@beef.org.
The Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns (CCC) is a weekly report from Washington, D.C., giving an up-to-date summary of top policy initiatives concerning the cattle industry; direct from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA). Please feel free to reprint in full or in part. If you would like to include NCBA's logo, contact us at 303-694-0305. | |
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Senate Vote on Death Tax Amendment Big Win for Producers
NCBA applauded members of the Senate for passing Death Tax relief in a vote on the budget resolution last week. The Senate voted 51 to 48 to pass an amendment sponsored by Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Jon Kyl of Arizona.
"This is a huge victory for America's farmers and ranchers," said Gary Voogt, NCBA President and rancher from Marne, Mich. "Nearly half of NCBA's members have operations that have been in their families for more than one generation, and they should have the right and the ability to pass these operations on to their children and grandchildren."
The Lincoln-Kyl amendment would raise the death tax exemption to $5 million per individual and $10 million per couple, indexed for inflation. Under this amendment, the maximum tax rate is reduced to 35%. Currently, estates valued at more than $3.5 million, or $7 million for a couple, are taxed at a 45% rate. President Obama has proposed freezing it at this level so it can be dealt with at a later date. But if Congress doesn't act to freeze or reduce the estate tax, in 2011, it will revert to a staggering 55% tax on estates worth only $1 million or more.
"This vote was a recognition of the extraordinary burden the death tax places on average Americans trying to pass on family cattle operations," said NCBA Manager of Legislative Affairs Jill Davidsaver. "The amendments don't have the force of law, but they are important guidelines for committees that have jurisdiction over the policies in the amendments."
"Many farmers and ranchers are what we call 'land rich and cash poor,'" explained Voogt. "This is not a tax cut for the rich. Cattle producers are often forced to sell off land, farm equipment, parts of the operation, or the entire ranch just to pay off liabilities under the death tax."
The bipartisan amendment was sponsored by Senators Lincoln and Kyl, as well as Senators Ben Nelson, Chuck Grassley, Mark Pryor, Pat Roberts, Mary Landrieu, Mike Enzi, Susan Collins, and John Thune.
"This vote was a strong show of support for our producers, and we appreciate the Senators who stood up for their rights." said Voogt.
"The majority of the U.S. Senate demonstrated that they realize the importance of reforming this tax," said Davidsaver. "It sets the stage for further action in reducing this burden on our farmers and ranchers."
"We'll continue to push for a full repeal of the estate tax, but we realize that may not be viable right now in the current political and economic climate. The Lincoln-Kyl amendment is the best option to provide relief in the meantime," Voogt stated. |
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FDA Ignoring Environmental and Economic Impacts of Feed Ban Rule
NCBA criticized a decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to solicit public comments solely on delaying the implementation of a new feed ban, rather than soliciting public comment on the ban itself.
NCBA has been opposed to the enhanced feed ban since it was originally proposed in 2005 and continues to urge FDA to open the rule to public comment and delay implementation until they have had adequate time to consider the many problems caused by the ban.
"Cattle producers across the country have been suffering as a result of this proposed rule months before it is scheduled to take effect," explains Dr. Elizabeth Parker, Chief Veterinarian for NCBA. "Members of Congress and the Senate have joined NCBA in petitioning the FDA to reopen the rule itself for public comment so that the people impacted by the rule can share their stories. Instead, the FDA is only allowing seven days of comments on whether to delay the implementation of the rule by 60 days. This is a weak and ineffective response to the issues already arising from this ill-considered action."
Over the past two decades industry and government have worked together to put in place science-based measures which have proven successful in preventing and reducing the spread of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the U.S. Furthermore, the incidence of BSE worldwide has dramatically decreased due to the many measures put into place, including a series of interlocking safeguards and science-based mitigation practices.
"We must continue to look to the science to avoid over-regulating the industry and creating policy that doesn't meet our objective of a safer animal health system," says Dr. Parker.
Since 1997, the U.S. has prohibited ruminant feed from including parts of other ruminants. This proactive "ruminant to ruminant" feed ban, combined with other government and industry safeguards, has proven to be highly successful in limiting BSE in the U.S. herd. The U.S. has an extremely low level risk of BSE, as demonstrated by years of robust USDA surveillance and confirmed by the U.S. "BSE Controlled Risk" designation by the OIE, the international animal health standard setting body.
"The FDA did not do a risk assessment for this so-called enhanced feed ban," says Dr. Parker. "The prevalence of BSE in the healthy cattle population of the United States is negligible, and globally this situation has nearly been eradicated."
The enhanced feed ban would move beyond the current ban in that it would prohibit certain cattle-derived risk materials from all animal feed. As such, the enhanced feed ban would provide negligible benefits to animal health or food safety. It would also create tremendous costs for ranchers, exacerbate disposal issues, and generate environmental concerns.
Beginning as early as December 2008, many renderers stopped picking up dead livestock because of the severe economic realities of this proposal. For several months, NCBA has received numerous reports from producers and veterinarians having increased difficulty in getting dead animals picked up, and if they are able to find pick-up services, the prices charged by the haulers and renderers are significantly higher than they ever have been.
"This rule has essentially ended rendering services in many parts of the country, and left producers with no legal alternatives," Dr. Parker says. "These are 1200 pound animals. It is unrealistic and simplistic to think that producers can dispose of them in their backyards. The environmental and economic consequences are enormous and FDA has the responsibility to consider those concerns before implementing this rule."
FDA estimates the new regulations would generate an additional 28 million pounds of prohibited material derived from healthy cattle at the slaughter plant level and will create an estimated 26.2 - 41.6% decrease in cattle carcasses being picked up by rendering services, which translates into an additional 369 - 577 million pounds annually that will have to be disposed by some other means. This is in addition to the approximately three billion pounds of ruminant carcasses resulting annually from natural causes. While FDA acknowledges these very real concerns, it has yet to identify any viable solutions.
This rule, as originally proposed in October 2005, failed an economic cost benefit analysis as required by the Office of Management and Budget and was sent back to FDA for revision. The revised final rule published in April 2008 was a political decision, disregarding the economic consequences of such a rule, as well as ignoring risk analysis, the current U.S. herd BSE status, the current world BSE status and ignoring the facts of the multiple firewalls existing in this country for decades, including a strong, historical and existing feed ban compliance.
"FDA says they have no jurisdiction over these disposal issues," Dr. Parker says. "But that does not absolve the Federal government from their responsibility to provide solutions to the problems this rule creates if they go ahead with implementation."
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Clean Water Restoration Act Introduced in Senate
Last week, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) introduced the Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787) in the Senate.
Currently, waters under the jurisdiction of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) are defined as "navigable waters of the United States." The legislation would remove the word "navigable" from the definition, thereby drastically expanding federal regulatory control over all wet areas.
Removing the word "navigable" essentially removes all recognized exclusions from federal jurisdiction, so the CWA could easily be interpreted to cover groundwater, manmade ponds, wet farmland, treatment ponds, and other wet areas.
Passage of this legislation could mean that cattle producers would be required to manage around mud holes in the middle of fields, steams and drainage ditches that are only wet during certain times of the year, and road ditches.
As such, NCBA has opposed all efforts to redefine waters of the United States and will continue to do so.
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National Animal Identification System Privacy Ruling
A federal court has ruled that records collected under the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) will be protected by the U.S. Privacy Act, meaning they will be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
This is a positive decision for producers' privacy rights under NAIS, because sensitive information about their premises, businesses, and animals will be shielded from public release.
"It is important that our producers can trust that confidential business information will be protected from FOIA requests," explains NCBA Executive Director of Legislative Affairs Colin Woodall. "Nevertheless, this decision can be appealed, and we will be closely monitoring that to ensure that producers' privacy rights are upheld."
NCBA supports a voluntary adoption of individual animal identification programs that support genetic improvement, source verification, and disease surveillance. "The private sector should have a role in providing identification solutions that fit the varying needs of America's cattle producers," Woodall says.
Under a private sector plan, state and federal government officials would be provided with adequate information to improve the nation's animal health surveillance systems. NCBA remains concerned that any system fully contained under the umbrella of the federal government risks producer privacy, whether through FOIA requests or accidental release of sensitive information.
"From our conversations with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we understand that it is easier to protect sensitive data from FOIA requests under a voluntary system," explains Woodall. "This is one more reason to support voluntary identification systems rather than a government mandate." |
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Don't Miss NCBA's Award-Winning Cattlemen to Cattlemen!
Don't miss NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen, April 7th through April 11th, where we'll take a look at what members of Congress say about the future of the death tax. Plus, we'll spend a day in the life of a southern California cattle feeder. And as always, we'll have the latest from cowboy poet Baxter Black.
Next, from April 14th through April 18th, we'll have tips on how to best manage fly problems on your operation this spring and summer. Plus, we'll spend a day in the life of a rancher who is a member of the Laguna Pueblo Tribe in New Mexico. And we'll also learn more about how segments of the beef industry are working together to promote beef safety.
NCBA'S Cattlemen to Cattlemen is now an hour long! The show debuts at Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. The show also airs Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. and on Saturday at 9 a.m. (All Times are Eastern) Don't forget, you can watch NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen online anytime by visiting www.CattlemenToCattlemen.org. | |
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NATIONAL CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOCIATION
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Washington, D.C. 20004 | |
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