Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns Archive
Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns
April 10, 2008
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’d like to include NCBA’s logo, contact us at 202-347-0228.
Colombia Trade Agreement Stalled Indefinitely: After President Bush sent the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement to Congress on Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi answered back with a proposal to change Trade Promotion Authority rules by removing the 90-day timeline for mandatory consideration of the trade pact. The House today, in a vote of 224-194, passed the proposal, which removes any timeframe for consideration of this agreement.
“NCBA supported Trade Promotion Authority for President Clinton and President Bush, and we will support it for whichever candidate occupies the Oval Office in 2009,” NCBA President Andy Groseta said. “TPA isn’t supposed to be about delaying or avoiding votes on specific trade agreements. It’s about taking action in a timely fashion, to give our nation the tools it needs to negotiate and implement agreements effectively.”
NCBA remains firm in its commitment to the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement and believes it is one of the best-negotiated free trade agreements for U.S. beef to date. The agreement will provide immediate duty-free access to U.S. prime and choice beef and will remove all other tariffs on beef products over 15 years. Once fully implemented, the Colombian market has potential to equal roughly $10-$20 million a year for the U.S. beef industry.
“Based on today’s vote, we are deeply concerned about potential repercussions from our international trading partners,” Groseta said. “NCBA has long urged our international trading partners to honor their commitments. What then does it say to the international community if we are willing to betray the trust of our trading partners and change the rules of Trade Promotion Authority in the eleventh hour?”
United States, South Korea Resume Trade Talks, Prepare for Presidential Visit: A delegation of U.S. trade negotiators, lead by Ellen Terpstra, deputy under secretary for farm and foreign agricultural services, are on their way to Seoul, Korea to resume beef trade talks with the South Korean government. Talks on this issue have been stalled since October when an agreement could not be reached regarding import standards.
The United States has said the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement, which was signed in June 2007, will not be considered until the beef issue is resolved and the Korean market is fully open to U.S. beef and beef products.
The resumption of these talks comes just one week before the new South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is scheduled to make his first visit to the United States since his inauguration on February 25. He will visit with President Bush at Camp David April 17-18.
Montana Rancher Testifies at Clean Water Act Hearing: Montana Rancher and NCBA member Randy Smith, of Glen, Mont., testified in opposition to Senate Bill 1870, the Clean Water Restoration Act, during the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing Wednesday, April 9. S.1870 proposes to strike the word “navigable” from the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) definition of “waters of the United States,” which would greatly expand the reach of the CWA.
“NCBA and the Montana Stockgrowers Association do not agree that this bill ‘restores’ Congressional intent regarding the extent of federal jurisdiction over waters,” Smith said. “Instead, this bill ignores Congressional intent and greatly expands federal jurisdiction far beyond anything Congress imagined at the time of enactment.”
Smith warned that broad expansion of the CWA would impose a significant financial burden on the nation’s farmers and ranchers and harm their private property rights, while doing little to improve the environment.
“It is one thing to regulate navigable waters and wetlands that have a ‘significant nexus’ to those waters because they have true environmental value,” Smith told the committee. “It is another thing to regulate every wet area, or potentially wet area, simply because it is wet, regardless of the fact that those areas provide very little if any environmental value. To think that a rancher would be forced to get a Section 404 permit whenever a cow stepped in a dry wash or a puddle is nothing less than shocking.”
House of Representatives Name Farm Bill Conferees: Late Wednesday, April 9, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced House members of the Farm Bill Conference Committee. The first meeting took of the conference committee place today, April 10. The announcement does not necessarily mean a final bill agreement is imminent, but it does signal that progress is being made. The following members of Congress were appointed to the conference committee:
Majority
Collin C. Peterson (D-Minn.), Tim Holden (D-Penn.), Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.), Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), Joe Baca (D-Calif.), Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), David Scot, (D-Ga.), and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).
Minority
Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Robin Hayes (R-N.C.), Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), Adam Putnam (R-Fl.), and Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas).
From the Committee on Ways and Means – to consider Title XII and other sections:
Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), and Jim McCrery (R-La.).
From the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure – to consider certain sections:
James Oberstar (D-Minn.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), and Sam Graves (R-Mo.).
From the Committee on Small Business – to consider certain sections:
Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio).
From the Committee on Science and Technology – to consider certain sections:
Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), Nicholas Lampson (D-Texas), and Michael McCaul (R-Texas).
From the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform – to consider certain sections:
Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
From the Committee on Natural Resources – to consider certain sections:
Nick Rahall (D-W.V.), Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.).
From the Committee on the Judiciary -- to consider certain sections:
John Conyers (D-Mich.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), and Lamar Smith (R-Texas).
From the Committee on Foreign Affairs -- to consider certain sections:
Howard Berman (D-Calif.), Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.).
From the committee on Financial Services – to consider certain sections:
Paul Kanjorski (D-Penn.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), and Spencer Bachus (R-Al.).
From the Committee on Energy and Commerce – to consider certain sections:
John Dingell (D-Mich.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), and Joe Barton (R-Texas).
From the Committee on Education and Labor – to consider certain sections:
George Miller (D-Calif.), Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), and Todd Platts (R-Penn.).
NCBA continues to work to ensure that issues of concern to cattlemen are addressed in the final language.
NCBA Submits Comments on Clean Water Act CAFO Supplemental Proposed Rule: NCBA submitted on Monday, April 7, comments to the EPA regarding the Clean Water Act CAFO Supplemental Proposed Rule, which would allow CAFOs to voluntarily certify that they do not discharge or that they do not intend to discharge. NCBA generally supports the concepts contained in the supplemental proposed rulemaking. In particular, we are supportive and appreciate the EPA proposal to include the “narrative approach” with respect to rates of application as a term of a CAFO’s nutrient management plan.
The comments also bring to attention several points of concern NCBA has with the supplemental rule. First, we are skeptical about whether producers would be willing to go through the very complex certification process if they would still be subject to liability for any rare and unexpected discharge that may occur. Second, we emphasize the importance of the producer’s ability to utilize the phosphorus index or State-approved method as a tool to determine whether to land apply manure or process wastewater at nitrogen or phosphorus application rates. Finally, NCBA urges EPA to extend the compliance deadline to two years after the states have completed their regulatory process incorporating new EPA requirements that will be in the final rule.
“We appreciate the fact that the EPA is working to address some of our concerns, but they still have a ways to go,” NCBA Chief Environment Counsel Tamara Thies said. “We are hopeful that more will be addressed in the final rule, which we expect to be released later this summer.”
USDA Reports Weekly Beef Exports Well Above Recent Levels: According to USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service’s weekly report, from March 28 to April 3, beef export sales reached 19,700 metric tons (MT), which were primarily to Mexico (8,600 MT), Canada (2,900 MT), Japan (2,300 MT), Russia (2,000 MT), Vietnam (1,900 MT), and Taiwan (1,500 MT). Additionally, exports during this same period were the largest for any week so far this year at 16,400 MT, with 10,100 MT going to Mexico; 2,500 MT to Canada; 1,100 to Vietnam, 1,000 MT to Japan; and 800 MT to Taiwan.
"The value of the dollar combined with a break in the beef cutout is providing solid opportunities in export channels. In particular, there has been solid growth in exports of rounds to Russia,” NCBA Chief Economist Gregg Doud, said. “The seasonal increase in "calf-fed" (20-months and under) supplies is also underway, which should improve sales to Japan."
USDA Holds Public Meeting on E. coli: USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) held a public meeting to discuss challenges and proposed solutions regarding recalls and illnesses related to E. coli O157:H7 and to discuss Non-O157 E. coli (STEC) on April 8 and 9 in Washington, D.C. Data from Checkoff-funded research was presented by NCBA’s Executive Director of Research Dr. Mandy Carr and a statement was submitted by Dr. Dean A. Danilson, Vice President, Food Safety & Quality Assurance Tyson Foods, on behalf of members of the Beef Industry Food Safety Coalition (BIFSCo).
“The best course of action is for industry and government to continue targeting E. coli O157:H7 with validated interventions and appropriate testing since this is the serogroup that is most virulent and most often associated with severe human disease,” the BIFSCo statement said. “Broad spectrum interventions currently in place will have a correlated effect on other serogroups beyond O157.”
Additionally, BIFSCo’s statement discourages FSIS from broadening its adulteration policy to include intact products that have rarely shown prevalence of the pathogen, and have not been implicated in food borne illness. It also discourages labeling non-O157 STECs as adulterants because FSIS has no published, validated and accepted laboratory protocol for determining pathogenic STEC in beef and not all STECs cause illness in humans. The public comment period for this meeting remains open for 30 days after the date of the meeting. More information is available at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Meetings_&_Events/index.asp
NCBA and PLC applaud Congressman Steve Pearce for supporting ranchers’ rights: On Wednesday, April 9th, the U.S. House of Representatives enacted the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) Act. This Act makes the NCLS permanent within the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The purpose of this system is to protect, conserve and restore nationally significant landscapes for future generations.
Congressman Pearce sponsored an amendment to this legislation to ensure that the permanent inclusion of NCLS within BLM is not to affect the current grazing rights of ranchers. “Ranching is an important part of our rural western economy, an important part of the history of the west,” Pearce stated. “Passing this amendment will help make that ranching will be an important part of the future.”
Wyoming L.E.A.D. Representatives Visit NCBA DC office: Members from the Wyoming Leadership and Education and Development (L.E.A.D.) Program visited the NCBA offices Thursday to learn about NCBA policies and current issues facing cattle producers in the state of Wyoming. NCBA Executive Director of Legislative Affairs Colin Woodall discussed the current status of the Farm Bill and agriculture appropriations issues with the group. Dustin Van Liew, Policy and Administrative Coordinator for PLC, addressed current issues surrounding sage grouse and Big Horn Sheep in Wyoming that are affecting cattle producers.
Meetings this Week: NCBA Chief Veterinarian Elizabeth Parker attended the Animal Agriculture Alliance Board of Director’s Meeting and the Seventh Annual Stakeholders Summit titled “Animal Welfare: Building Bridges Across the Food Chain” in Arlington, VA. More information is posted at www.animalagalliance.org.
Gregg Doud, NCBA Chief Economist, spoke at the American Simmental Association meeting titled “SimPlace 2008” in Urbana, Illinois. Doud joined a list of speakers from universities across the country and from various industry groups. More information is available at www.simmental.org/.
NCBA Executive Director, Beef Safety Research Mandy Carr participated in the USDA-APHIS Center for Veterinary Biologics 14th Public Meeting in Ames, Iowa. Carr made a presentation regarding pre-harvest interventions. More information is posted at www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/usdacvb/about.html.
Don't Miss NCBA’s Award-Winning Cattlemen to Cattlemen: On this week’s episode of NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen airing April 8-13, we’ll learn more about how premises registration has played an important role on an Arizona ranch that runs along the international border with Mexico. We’ll also learn more about factors impacting the cattle market from expert analyst Andy Gottschalk of R.J. O’Brien and Associates. Plus, we have tips on how to keep your herd healthy as we head into the warmer months of the year. And we cook a great recipe using the Flat Iron Steak!
On next week’s episode of NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen, airing April 15 through April 20, we’ll hear from several key members of Congress on whether they think a new Farm Bill can still be completed and passed this spring. Dave Juday of World Perspectives talks about the pressure being placed on the grain markets by global demand and renewable fuel mandates, and we’ll spend a day with Chris and Cas Derks – a young Missouri couple working to build a successful cattle operation, and to strengthen their local cattlemen’s association.
NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen on RFD-TV provides weekly news and features for cattle producers across the country. The show airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. and is rebroadcast Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. and Sundays at 12 a.m. (midnight). All times are Eastern. Make sure YOU tune into NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen on channel RFD-TV. For more information or to check out past episodes, visit www.cattlementocattlemen.org