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Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns
Contact:
Bethany Shively,
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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Time Running out for Meaningful Estate Tax Reform
While it appeared earlier this week that the House would likely move forward on a one-year extension of the current estate tax law, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) is encouraged by recent indications that proposals for more permanent reform could be considered before the end of the year. However, it remains unclear what type of meaningful reform could move forward in the limited time remaining on the legislative calendar.
"When many businesses are struggling just to stay afloat, a simple extension of current law is unacceptable," said Jill Davidsaver, NCBA manager of legislative affairs. "Farmers, ranchers and other small businesses need permanency so they can plan for the future of their estates."
NCBA continues to support legislation to increase the exemption level, decrease the rate of taxation, and exempt working farm and ranch land from the tax.
"Both of these types of reforms are critical," continued Davidsaver. "Because at the end of the day, all our members really want is to keep their farms and ranches in production and hand them down to future generations."
For more information, visit:
http://www.beefusa.org/NEWSNCBAMemberTestifiesDuringCongressionalEstateTax
Hearing39805.aspx
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Chesapeake Bay Act Could Impact Farmers and Ranchers across the Nation
The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee's Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife held a hearing last week on S. 1816, the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act. S. 1816 goes well beyond a simple extension of the current Chesapeake Bay program; it sets a dangerous precedent for federal regulation that could be applied to watersheds across the country.
The Act proposes setting hard caps on nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment; expanding the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act; and usurping a process already begun by the stakeholders in the region to address water quality in the Bay. In comments submitted for the hearing record, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and a group of agriculture associations expressed concerns that the bill would impose severe economic hardship on the agriculture sector, without effectively achieving the goal of improved water quality in the Chesapeake Bay:
"By codifying executive and regulatory authorities, S. 1816 will hamper innovative solutions in areas such as nutrient trading, economic growth, farm adaptive management and overall water quality restoration. Without adequate time and science to effectively work through processes such as the drafting of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), S. 1816 will impose burdensome regulations and penalties before defining procedures and practices that are proven to efficiently achieve desired water quality goals. This accelerated course of action is expensive and damaging to the watershed's economy, viability of our agriculture sector, and overall water quality objectives."
Similar legislation has been introduced in the House.
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NCBA Asks Ag Committee to Preserve Unique Structure of Farm Credit System
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and other groups sent a letter to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Colin Peterson this week expressing continuing concerns about the future of our nation's Farm Credit System. The House Financial Services Committee recently adopted legislation (the Consumer Financial Protection Act) that would establish a new federal agency with broad authority to oversee the provision of credit and financial products and services to consumers. Under the Act, the Farm Credit System would be treated in the same way as unregulated finance companies-rather than as the highly regulated federally chartered institutions which they are.
This recent letter to Chairman Peterson follows on a similar letter sent last year by NCBA and others opposing efforts to combine the Farm Credit System into broader legislative efforts to deal with the nation's financial crisis. Agriculture producers depend on the Farm Credit as a reliable provider of credit, even as agriculture is going through stressful economic times. Lumping the Farm Credit System into broader legislative efforts to resolve problems with the housing GSEs, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the commercial banking or securities regulatory structure "would undermine the mission that the Agriculture Committees gave Farm Credit some 90 years ago," stated the letter.
Beyond the direct impact on the Farm Credit System, the groups also expressed concerns that the legislation would undermine the role of the Agriculture Committee in ensuring that the system remains strong and serves the needs of or farmers and ranchers.
"The Agriculture Committee has done a commendable job of ensuring that the Farm Credit System has adequate capital levels, strict regulatory oversight and that taxpayers are protected through a system-funded insurance plan. Few financial institutions in the country have such protections and they are the result of the good work of your committee," the groups stated. "The possible loss of any of your committee's jurisdiction to other committees-not nearly so familiar with agriculture-would be devastating to our producers."
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Senate Marks Up Food Safety Bill
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a markup yesterday on S. 510, The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, introduced by Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Gregg (R-NH). The bipartisan bill would increase funding for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food safety activities through increased appropriations and targeted fees for food facility reinspection, mandatory food recalls, and the voluntary qualified importer program.
We're pleased that the bill in its current form maintains clear jurisdictional boundaries between the FDA's and U.S. Department of Agriculture's regulated products.
While America has the safest food supply in the world, America's cattle producers are constantly looking for ways to increase the efficiency and the effectiveness of our current food safety system.
During the markup, the Committee indicated the bill could be revised further before it heads to the Senate floor. We'll continue to monitor it closely to ensure the final version will achieve the goal of increasing food safety without detracting from the strong processes we have in place. For more information on the beef industry's safety efforts, visit: http://www.beefusa.org/uDocs/foodsafetyleavebehind.pdf
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Don't miss NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen!
Don't miss a special edition of NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen, November 24 - 28. We'll sit down with the experts from Cattle Fax to hear about the current industry climate, beef demand and the U.S. corn supply.
NCBA'S Cattlemen to Cattlemen is now an hour long! The show debuts Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. and airs again Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. and 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. Follow us on Twitter at NCBA C2C and become a fan of the show on Facebook by searching NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen.
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NATIONAL CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOCIATION1301 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20004 | | Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns - November 5, 2009 (11/6/2009) Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns - October 29, 2009 (10/29/2009) Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns - October 15, 2009 (10/15/2009) Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns - October 8, 2009 (10/8/2009) Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns - October 1, 2009 (10/1/2009) Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns - September 24, 2009 (9/24/2009)
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