Pat Roberts
GMO food-label chaos coming, but a vote is postponed
Vermont's first-in-the-nation law to require special labels on food made with genetically modified organisms "is going to create a chaotic situation," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told lawmakers in backing a nationwide solution. "We want some standardization ... We need to get this fixed."
First step against labeling is to show GMO food is safe – Roberts
Chairman Pat Roberts says the Senate Agriculture Committee "will prove to the American people their food is safe" before it considers legislation to over-ride state GMO food-labeling laws, said the Topeka (Kan) Capital-Journal. A committee hearing on agricultural biotechnology is scheduled for Oct 21.
Senate Ag chairman: no new funding for child nutrition
The Senate Agriculture Committee chairman said he does not plan any increase in spending as part of re-authorizing child nutrition programs that range from school lunch to WIC. Kansas Republican Pat Roberts postponed indefinitely a bill-drafting session, originally scheduled for Thursday, while awaiting Congressional Budget Office estimates of the cost of potential elements of the bill.
Moran-Wolf clash may be Kansas Senate harbinger
Tea Party-backed Milton Wolf, the radiologist who unsuccessfully challenged Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts in the Republican primary last year, is fueling speculation that he will try again for the Senate, this time against incumbent Jerry Moran, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the USDA and FDA spending.
Senate ag panel leaders say sugar program is safe
The two leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee, chairman Pat Roberts and top-ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow, said the U.S. sugar program is safe from challenge within the committee.
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.
“Looking for the next Cantor”
That's the line used by Kyle Kondik of Sabato's Crystal Ball, referring to the rare defeat of congressional incumbents in a primary election, with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor being this year's headline example. Kondik says an average of six House incumbents and one senator lose a primary each election cycle. In surveying the states yet to hold primaries, Kondik tabbed two farm-state incumbents worth watching: Rep Scott DesJarlais, Tennessee Republican, and Sen Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican.
Senators ask EPA for much larger biodiesel mandate
Three dozen senators sent a letter to the EPA asking for a much higher mandate for biodiesel than the agency proposed for 2016 and 2017. They say the agency failed to "adequately recognize the domestic biodiesel industry's production capacity and its ability to increase production."
Canada accuses U.S. of dodging COOL
The United States is trying futilely to avoid retaliatory tariffs because of its trade-distorting country-of-origin labels (COOL), Canada said, renewing its demand for an end to COOL. "The only way for the United States to avoid billions in retaliation by late summer is to ensure legislation repealing COOL passes the Senate and is signed by the president," said Canada's agriculture and trade ministers, following a WTO meeting to discuss penalties against the trade-distorting rules.
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.
As House votes, Senate ponders its COOL move
Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway hopes for a large majority vote in the House today to repeal country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on packages of beef, pork and chicken sold in grocery stores. A strong House vote for repeal would create leverage for the Senate to concur, Conaway says. A coalition of manufacturing, business and agricultural groups says it is "critical that Congress enact corrective legislation before adjourning for August recess."
“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.
Roberts plans “big-picture discussion” of school food rules
Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts says that, as part of reauthorizing school lunch and other child nutrition programs, he plans to "have a big-picture discussion on how to retain the great advancements that some schools have made, and to allow other districts to meet the challenges."
USDA allows one more month for yield and acre updates
Farmers have an additional month, until March 31, to tell the USDA if they want to update their yield and acreage "bases" for crop subsidies. Operators also face a March 31 deadline to select a crop subsidy program - either the shallow-loss Agriculture Risk Coverage or the traditionally structured Price Loss Coverage - for the life of the 2014 farm law. The department announced "a one-time extension" on Friday, the previous yield-and-base deadline; the decision period opened on Sept. 29, 2014.
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.