Your Voice Needed On Farm Bill Vote
TO: USMEF Membership
FROM: Philip Seng
SUBJECT: Your Voice Needed On Farm Bill Vote
As you may already know, House-Senate conferees reached agreement last week on a new Farm Bill (H.R. 2419), the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. Earlier today, the conference report was filed in both House and Senate, and it could be considered by the House tomorrow and shortly thereafter in the Senate.
The Farm Bill calls for annual funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) Program to continue at $200 million and $34.5 million respectively. While we did not gain increases in funding for these programs, it's important to remember that, in this very tough budget environment, we also did not see reductions. Many other programs were cut.
President Bush has threatened to veto the legislation when it reaches his desk. If this occurs and Congress fails to override the veto, a one- or two-year extension of the 2002 Farm Bill is likely. Although MAP and FMD would probably remain at current levels during this period, the budget, or baseline, for writing a Farm Bill a year or two from now is likely to be even lower. This would put even more pressure on programs such as MAP and FMD.
Therefore, USMEF urges all members to contact their Congressional Representatives and Senators and urge that they vote in favor of the Farm Bill conference report when it is considered by the House and Senate this week. Please do this ASAP. As mentioned above, the legislation could be considered by the House tomorrow and the Senate soon after. It's important that the conference report is approved by large margins in both bodies.
Thank you in advance for your support and action.
TO: USMEF Membership
FROM: Philip Seng
SUBJECT: Your Voice Needed On Farm Bill Vote
As you may already know, House-Senate conferees reached agreement last week on a new Farm Bill (H.R. 2419), the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. Earlier today, the conference report was filed in both House and Senate, and it could be considered by the House tomorrow and shortly thereafter in the Senate.
The Farm Bill calls for annual funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) Program to continue at $200 million and $34.5 million respectively. While we did not gain increases in funding for these programs, it's important to remember that, in this very tough budget environment, we also did not see reductions. Many other programs were cut.
President Bush has threatened to veto the legislation when it reaches his desk. If this occurs and Congress fails to override the veto, a one- or two-year extension of the 2002 Farm Bill is likely. Although MAP and FMD would probably remain at current levels during this period, the budget, or baseline, for writing a Farm Bill a year or two from now is likely to be even lower. This would put even more pressure on programs such as MAP and FMD.
Therefore, USMEF urges all members to contact their Congressional Representatives and Senators and urge that they vote in favor of the Farm Bill conference report when it is considered by the House and Senate this week. Please do this ASAP. As mentioned above, the legislation could be considered by the House tomorrow and the Senate soon after. It's important that the conference report is approved by large margins in both bodies.
Thank you in advance for your support and action.