Controversial COOL, Catfish Inspection Laws Pass House with 2014 Farm Bill
The House passed on Jan. 29 the Agricultural Act of 2014 (here) conference report, this year’s iteration of the Farm Bill, with a 251-166 roll call. The legislation retains a number of provisions that industry opponents claim will encourage World Trade Organization (WTO) sanctioned retaliation in the future, such as U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) country of origin labeling (COOL) regulations on meat and poultry imports and the Catfish Inspection Program.
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U.S. livestock and poultry industries had pledged to actively oppose passage of a final Farm Bill conference report, should it contain a COOL regime that fails to meet WTO compliance standards, but ultimately Farm Bill conferees retained the measures (see 14012804). While the COOL fix is absent, the livestock industry successfully pressured conferees to include a provision that mandates study on the existing COOL regulations, said a National Pork Producers Council spokesman. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association vowed to continue pressure to dismantle the regulations at the WTO.
“The CCA would have supported Canada terminating the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute if its preferred proposal had been accepted,” said the CCA in a statement (here). “Unfortunately, the proponents of COOL were unwilling to consider any amendment to the COOL statute that would have allowed the U.S. to meet its international obligations. As a result the program is expected to remain unaltered as the final Farm Bill is likely to pass Congress later this week.”
The bill also doesn't repeal the USDA Catfish Inspection Program, despite hard lobbying by critics in the months leading up to the issuance of the conference report (see 13121124). “There is an overwhelming, bipartisan majority in the House and Senate that have expressed a need to repeal this wasteful program. The facts surrounding the program are indisputable and have not changed, neither has the need for its repeal,” said spokesman for the National Fisheries Institute, a seafood trade association, on Jan. 29 following House passage. “The Government Accountability Office has laid out the problems with this program; it’s duplicative, it’s a non-tariff barrier and it wastes 170 million taxpayer dollars. Those problems continue to exist.”
The Agricultural Act of 2014, however, boosts efforts to strengthen U.S. agricultural exports and biomanufacturing, said one of two Senate conferees, Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., in a statement following the agreement on Jan. 27 (here). "Today's bipartisan agreement brings us closer than ever to enacting a five-year Farm Bill that saves taxpayers billions, eliminates unnecessary subsidies, and helps farmers and business owners create jobs," said Stabenow. "Agriculture has been a bright spot in our economy and is helping to drive our country's economic recovery."