1998 News Archive
NCBA REAPS WINS FOR CATTLEMEN ON CAPITOL HILL AS 105TH CONGRESS LEAVES TOWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 21, 1998) – The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) was successful in getting several wins in the 105th Congress and Administration that will help cattlemen create a positive business environment, the NCBA said today. NCBA also was successful in stopping a number of measures that could have been detrimental to producers and their family cattle businesses.
Congress today gave final approval to the bill to fund agricultural programs in FY 1999 and is expected to finish its two-year congressional session later this afternoon, after having passed a number of measures that benefit family farmers and ranchers, including tax and disaster relief, as well as funding for food safety, cattle health, conservation, marketing, trade and research programs. Congress will not adjourn officially until later this fall, but no more votes on legislation will be held.
"We were successful in moving important items like tax and disaster relief that will not only help ranchers and farmers stay afloat through the current tough economic situation, but will also have a lasting impact in the long-term," said NCBA Dues Division Chairman Bill Gallagher, a cattle producer from Stephan, S.D. "While Congress did not act on all of our priorities this session, we made a good start for the new Congress in 1999."
Key measures approved by the 105th Congress include:
- Food Safety. A top beef industry priority, $76 million in new funding to enhance food safety research, surveillance, education and inspection was secured, as well as full funding at $600 million for the Food Safety Inspection Service;
- Estate Tax. One of the biggest legislative wins in 1997, the Tax Relief Act is the first major tax reform since 1981. The law makes it easier for cattle producers to keep farms and ranches in the family when death taxes come due by adding a new tax exclusion for family-owned businesses. When combined with the unified credit exemption, the total exclusion is $1.3 million per entity. On estates worth $3 million, producers would save $358,738;
- Capital Gains. The new tax law cuts capital gains rates. It drops the top rate to 20 percent and the bottom rate to 10 percent for investments held at least 18 months. A producer selling 20 breeding age bulls at $1500/head, which have been held for 24 months, would save $75 to $120 per head in capital gains tax;
- Disaster Assistance. A $5.939 billion disaster and economics assistance package was secured, with $200 million in emergency livestock feed assistance;
- Agricultural Tax Relief. Additional relief includes permanent income averaging, a five-year net operating loss carryback, and acceleration of health insurance deductibility to 100 percent by 2003;
- Tax Simplification. The new law makes the Internal Revenue Service more taxpayer-friendly by simplifying tax filing and placing the burden of proof in tax disputes on the IRS;
- Balanced Budget. The 1997 Balanced Budget Act led to the first balanced budget in nearly three decades;
- Research Funding. Funding was secured for key food safety, cattle health, conservation, marketing, trade and research programs, and the agricultural research program was reformed to ensure that federal research focuses on key agricultural issues;
- Meat Labeling. A study was approved on the benefits and costs of country-of-origin meat labeling, as well as the feasibility of rescinding the USDA quality grade for imported beef;
- Price Reporting. A 12-month pilot study on mandatory price reporting amends the Packers & Stockyards Act to require:
- any person or class of persons that buy, sell or market a significant portion of domestic or imported livestock and fresh meat muscle cuts to report information relating to the prices of these products;
- the Secretary of Agriculture to make a final report to Congress within six months of the conclusion of the pilot on the effectiveness of the program;
- Export Reporting. A 12-month export market reporting pilot program establishes a streamlined, electronic system for issuing meat product export certificates and disseminates summary data from these certificates, within two weeks of issuance;
- International Monetary Fund. Approximately $18 billion dollars was secured to stabilize and foster the economies of U.S. beef importers;
- Market Access. Full funding of the Market Access Program for foreign market development, at $90 million, was retained, making it the first time in over a decade the program has been fully-funded;
- Global Climate Treaty. NCBA encouraged key players in the Senate not to support the Treaty, and the Administration did not forward the signed treaty to the Senate for ratification; and
- BLM Permits. A provision was approved to allow ranchers with expiring Bureau of Land Management grazing permits to continue to operate during the 1999 grazing season, pending completion of required environmental analysis by the BLM.
Priorities that NCBA will continue in the 106th Congress include:
- Death tax repeal and further reductions in capital gains taxes, as well as measures that would allow tax-deferred income to be stored in farm and ranch tax-management accounts for a maximum of five years, with taxes paid upon withdrawal;
- Country-of-origin meat labeling, and other ways to improve marketing tools for cattlemen;
- Mandatory price reporting, to extend the one year pilot program indefinitely and make the information readily available to cattle producers;
- Clean Water Act improvements;
- Endangered Species Act improvements; and
- Renewing trade negotiation authority so that the U.S. government can continue work to open new markets for beef producers as well as fix those provisions in current trade agreements that need changes.
Congress made some progress but did not complete work on some NCBA priorities important to farmers and ranchers, including:
- Property Rights. The House approved a bill that would protect the constitutional rights of private property owners;
- Grazing. The House approved the Forage Improvement Act of 1997, a bill that would increase cattle industry stability be allowing federal-lands ranchers to plan for forage use;
- Endangered Species Act. Extensive negotiations resulted in a bill to reauthorize the Endangered Species Act and provide landowner protections and incentives, with bipartisan agreement and support from the administration, and the bill was approved by a Senate committee; and
- Renewed Trade Authority. Two attempts were made by Congress to renew trade negotiation authority for the administration
Significant progress on regulatory issues was also made in 1998:
- Australian Cattle. Prevention of the transshipment of Australian cattle through Mexico until all necessary foreign animal disease prevention measures are in place and verified;
- Inequities. NCBA successfully encouraged USDA to publish a "water reg" to address meat and poultry inequities. The proposed rule would ensure equity between meat and poultry processing and level the playing field between meat and poultry at the retail meat counter;
- Loan Deficiency Payments. The USDA loan deficiency payment program was changed to include cattle producers who harvest silage, earlage, cobbage, field ground corn, and other feed grains that are cracked, rolled or crimped;
- Yellowstone. Development and submission of comments on the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) Draft Environmental Impact Statement in cooperation of the state of Montana and the United States Animal Health Association, which will aid in the eradication of brucellosis from the GYA;
- Northwest Pilot Project. Changes in Canadian animal health regulations which now support implementation of the Northwest Pilot Project making cross-border shipment of live cattle more accessible to U.S. cattle producers;
- EU Ban. A World Trade Organization ruling that the European Union ban on U.S. beef is illegal;
- Korean Markets. NCBA urged the U.S. government to open trade negotiations with Korea as they have not met their international trade obligations;
- Argentine Beef. Establishment of verification procedures ensuring the beef imported from Argentina does not pose a risk of Foot and Mouth Disease introduction to the United States; and
- Water Quality. NCBA will continue work with USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency to make sure cattle producers' concerns are addressed as the agencies move forward with their strategy to control runoff and expand the permitting system for animal feeding operations. NCBA has informed USDA and EPA that a top down mandate will not work when runoff must be addressed at a local level, tailored to meet each local condition -- which many of the current state programs do.
-- NCBA --
Initiated in 1898, NCBA is the marketing organization and trade association for America’s one million cattle farmers and ranchers. With offices in Denver, Chicago and Washington D.C., NCBA is a consumer-focused, producer-directed organization representing the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.