Key Congressional Subcommittee Shows Support for Full MAP Funding
Key Congressional Subcommittee Shows Support for Full MAP Funding
Federal funding to support marketing of U.S. agricultural exports took a step forward yesterday afternoon when the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee marked up and approved the 2010 fiscal year Agriculture Appropriations bill. While the bill language will not be released until after full committee markup, it is believed that the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) Program both were fully funded at $200 million and $34.5 million, respectively, as authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill.
In other congressional action, new funding for the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) was dropped yesterday from the fiscal 2010 spending bill. Agricultural appropriations subcommittee chairwoman Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D.-Conn.), who has been a strong critic of how the U.S. Department of Agriculture has handled millions of dollars spent on the program, said “continued investments into the current NAIS are unwarranted” until USDA comes up with a better plan.
DeLauro said USDA currently is conducting a series of NAIS listening sessions nationwide, and funding will be suspended until the conclusion of those sessions and until USDA “provides details as to how it will implement an effective ID system.”
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The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
Key Congressional Subcommittee Shows Support for Full MAP Funding
Federal funding to support marketing of U.S. agricultural exports took a step forward yesterday afternoon when the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee marked up and approved the 2010 fiscal year Agriculture Appropriations bill. While the bill language will not be released until after full committee markup, it is believed that the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) Program both were fully funded at $200 million and $34.5 million, respectively, as authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill.
In other congressional action, new funding for the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) was dropped yesterday from the fiscal 2010 spending bill. Agricultural appropriations subcommittee chairwoman Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D.-Conn.), who has been a strong critic of how the U.S. Department of Agriculture has handled millions of dollars spent on the program, said “continued investments into the current NAIS are unwarranted” until USDA comes up with a better plan.
DeLauro said USDA currently is conducting a series of NAIS listening sessions nationwide, and funding will be suspended until the conclusion of those sessions and until USDA “provides details as to how it will implement an effective ID system.”
# # #
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.