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Senate Passes TPA
President Bush now has authority to negotiate trade agreements without amendments by Congress. HR 3009 was passed by the Senate 64-34. Senators Mike DeWine and George Voinovich both supported the bill. Farm Bureau believes Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) is the catalyst needed to advance the U.S. proposal to reduce tariffs and improve market access, reduce disparities in trade-distorting domestic farm subsidies and eliminate export subsidies--the United States' three main objectives in the WTO negotiations.

Trade Promotion Authority restores the president's authority to negotiate trade deals that Congress can pass or reject but cannot amend. Without it, other countries are reluctant to negotiate with the United States for fear that any hard-won trade agreement could be undone through amendments in the U.S. Congress. If the United States is not a leader in the negotiations, it would have to take or leave whatever agreement other countries work out. With TPA, the United States will be able to play a leadership role in the negotiations and have more control over their outcome.

U.S. agriculture is heavily dependent on exports. On average, one out of every three acres in the United States is planted for export; farmers and ranchers earn 25 percent of their farm income from exports and 96 percent of the world population lives outside U.S. borders.

"This is a great victory," said OFBF vice president for government affairs Keith Stimpert. "Farm Bureau and Farm Bureau members worked hard to pass TPA."

The House passed the bill in late July, in a close vote of 215-212. Ohio representatives who supported the bill: John Boehner, Steve Chabot, Paul Gillmor, David Hobson, Bob Ney, Michael Oxley, Rob Portman, Deb Pryce and Pat Tiberi.

Unauthorized Authority
Farm Bureau has filed a petition seeking a rehearing of a Clean Water Act (CWA) case that significantly affects farmers and ranchers nationwide. A ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allows the Environmental Protection Agency "a breathtaking assertion of power" beyond what is authorized by federal law, according to the Farm Bureau petition.

The court recently ruled that federal limits on water pollution, called Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL), apply to nonpoint sources of pollution, including agriculture, even though the CWA restricted federal TMDL regulation to point source pollutants, or end-of-pipe discharges, only. Nonpoint pollution can come from numerous sources, including suburban lawns, forests, farms and rural lands.

"If the ruling stands, the Environmental Protection Agency will have greatly expanded authority beyond the letter and intent of the Clean Water Act," said AFBF President Stallman. "This would cost farmers and ranchers financial resources they cannot afford to lose."

Nonpoint pollution is unpredictable and difficult to measure. Farm Bureau argues that is the very reason Congress intended that direct federal regulation under TMDLs apply to point source pollutants only. Point source pollutants, which include mostly industrial and municipal waste, can be measured and controlled with more precision. Nonpoint pollution is regulated by states under a separate section of the CWA.

More Biotech Hurdles
Recent action by the European Parliament to impose strict labeling requirements on food products that contain or are derived from genetically modified (GM) ingredients, even in tiny amounts, "represents a slap in the face to American agriculture," according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. "It appears the European Union wants to declare economic war on American agriculture," said AFBF President Stallman. "The proposal threatens billions of dollars worth of U.S. farm exports," he asserted.

In addition to labeling, the Parliament adopted provisions that would impose product-specific traceability requirements, which Stallman said, "would make it all but impossible to export bulk commodities to Europe."

Approximately 75 percent of the world's GM crops are planted in the United States, Stallman noted. And a large percentage of major export crops, such as corn, cotton and soybeans, now come from biotech varieties, and these crops account for a large share of the United States' annual $6.3 billion worth of farm exports to the European Union.

The European proposal, Stallman charged, "clearly seeks to protect Europe's domestic products." The Parliament rejected a proposal to label meat and milk from animals that are fed biotech-derived feed, he noted.

In response to the EU action, the farm leader said AFBF will be working with the Bush administration "to ensure our concerns are voiced loud and clear to the European Union and our government takes appropriate action if the European proposal is enacted."

Farm Bureau View on Homeland Security Plan
AFBF is supporting, in part, President Bush's proposed Homeland Security Department.

The president has intends to move the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to the new Homeland Security Department.

AFBF believes moving APHIS border security and port of entry inspection functions would help prevent intentional introductions of plant or animal diseases and protect the U.S. food production system from terrorist attack.

However, AFBF notes that many other APHIS functions and programs important to U.S. agriculture do not fit within a new department that deals with terrorism. Farm Bureau is concerned that these vital agriculture programs could disappear or become less of a priority if they are absorbed into the new department. Farm Bureau hopes to discuss its concerns with the administration and Congress before the new department is finalized to prevent "the law of unintentional consequences" from occurring.

APHIS operates numerous programs besides those that deal with border protection, Stallman noted. The agency's jurisdiction, he said, includes important agriculture programs that control predatory animals, facilitate trade by certifying the health of cross-border animals and plants, regulate the humane treatment of animals, and help prevent and eradicate animal and plant diseases devastating to agriculture.

"The need to protect and reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism and to assist in the recovery from terrorist attacks are goals that are vitally important to agriculture," AFBF President Bob Stallman testified at a House Agriculture Committee hearing on the issue. "Since the business of agriculture is to help ensure that every American has an abundant and safe food supply, the U.S. government must take steps to minimize or prevent terrorist activities that may be directed toward American agriculture."