Debbie Stabenow
Canada says U.S. senators are wrong about voluntary meat labeling
Canada's agriculture minister, Gerry Ritz, said two U.S. senators are wrong to say their proposal for a voluntary country-of-origin label (COOL) for beef, pork and chicken is similar to the "Product of Canada" label available in his country.
Voluntary COOL bill “a risky strategy” – Canada cattle official
A Senate proposal to switch to a voluntary U.S. country-of-origin labeling (COOL) system for beef, pork and chicken is "a risky strategy" that would not satisfy free-trade rules, says a top official of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.
Senate ag chairman says “flexibility” is key for school-food bill
Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts says the word he hears again and again is "flexibility" when the topic is renewal of U.S. child nutrition programs that cost $21 billion a year.
Two COOL vehicles could collide in the highway bill
Congress is clearly on its way to repealing the law that requires packages of beef, pork and chicken sold in supermarkets to carry labels that say where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. But there are rival plans on how to do it.
House hands COOL repeal to Senate, where it faces greater scrutiny
Three weeks after an adverse WTO ruling, the House sent to the Senate a bill to repeal the law that requires packages of beef, pork and chicken sold in grocery stores to say where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. Advocates of the so-called country-of-origin labels (COOL), routed in the House on a 300-131 rollcall, hope the Senate will stop the stampede to repeal.
People on the move
Joe Shultz is the new Democratic staff director on the Senate Agriculture Committee, announced ranking member Debbie Stabenow.
“Repeal of mandatory COOL is the surest way,” says Roberts
Warning of retaliatory tariffs of more than $3 billion, Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts said, "Repeal of mandatory COOL is the surest way to protect the U.S. economy." Farm and industry groups generally joined the call for repeal during an Agriculture Committee hearing on the impact of a WTO ruling that U.S. country-of-origin labels (COOL) on packages of beef and pork violate world trade rules by discouraging imports from Canada and Mexico.
Key senator proposes voluntary origin labels for beef and pork
The United States can avoid billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs by switching to voluntary country-of-origin labels (COOL) for beef and pork, said the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
A quarter of farmers make subsidy choice as deadline nears
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he would provide "flexibility" if needed to assure orderly handling of two important farm program deadlines. Growers have until Friday to tell the USDA whether they want to update two factors for calculating crop subsidies - average yields and acreage bases. And they have until March 31 to select either the insurance-like Agricultural Risk Coverage subsidy or the traditionally designed Price Loss Coverage subsidy.
Conaway selected as next House Agriculture chairman
House Republican leaders tapped Texas Rep Mike Conaway to become House Agriculture Committee chairman in January, succeeding Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, who has served the six-year maximum allowed by Republican rules. Conaway is a conservative from central Texas and currently is chairman of the House Ethics Committee. House Republicans are expected to meet today to ratify the choice of Conaway and 16 other men as their committee leaders.
EPA delays until 2015 the ethanol mandate for this year
With time running out to set the ethanol mandate for this year, EPA said it "is not in a position to finalize the 2014 RFS standards rule before the end of the year. Accordingly, we intend to take action on the 2014 standards rule in 2015 prior to or in conjunction with action on the 2015 standards rule." EPA proposed a relaxation in the 2014 mandate nearly a year ago, saying the gasoline market was nearly saturated with biofuels at the traditional blend rate of 10 percent, partly because fuel usage is lower than expected.
Reid aces food policy scorecard, Boehner scores a zero
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and 70 other members of Congress, mostly Democrats, got perfect grades from advocacy group Food Policy Action for their votes on food and agriculture issues over the past two years.
House passes CFTC bill, Stabenow says more is needed
The House passed, 265-144, its bill to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the regulator of the vast derivatives market.
First Lady: “I’m going to fight to the bitter end”
First Lady Michelle Obama told a gathering of middle school students at the White House, "I'm going to fight until the bitter end to make sure that every kid in this country continues to have the best nutrition that they can have in our schools."
Senate panel launches school-lunch reauthorization
The Senate Agriculture Committee opened work on reauthorization of child nutrition programs, including school lunch, with a 90-minute hearing that hailed the role of good nutrition in academic success and long-term health.
Senate panel to hear about child nutrition programs
The president of the National Parent Teacher Association, Otha Thornton, is among witnesses scheduled for a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on child nutrition programs today at 10 a.m. ET.
Farm leaders hopeful EPA will relent on biofuels
Sen Debbie Stabenow and Rep Collin Peterson told NAAJ they were optimistic the administration will set a higher mandate for biofuels consumption this year than it initially proposed.
Food stamps a target for House Ag leaders
The heat-and-eat "spat" could lead to Republican attempts to end the Low Income Energy Assistance Program and so-called categorical eligibility for food stamps, especially if the GOP gains control of the Senate...