|
11/21/03
**************************************************************************
1. Agriculture Appropriations
Mischief
2. Senate Stymies Energy Bill
3. Protests Prevail in Miami
4. Thanksgiving Dinner With Willie?
***************************************************************************
1. APPROPRIATIONS MISCHIEF
In the November 5, 2003 edition
of Rural Updates, we reported a major victory for family farms
and the environment: the passage of an amendment to the Senate
Agriculture Appropriations bill that would reduce the EQIP
per-farm payment limitation from $450,000 to $300,000.
It now appears, however, that
what the Senate giveth, the conference committee taketh away.
The provision, originally offered by Senators Grassley (R-IA)
and Dorgan (D-ND), has been removed by negotiators resolving the
House and Senate versions of the bill. It is still unclear how
the conference committee will resolve the other differences
between the House and Senate versions of the Agriculture
Appropriations bill, such as technical assistance, funding for
the Conservation Security Program, and funding levels for other
Farm Bill conservation programs.
Complicating the issue is the
fact that the Agriculture Appropriations bill is poised to
become the vehicle for an omnibus spending package that would
roll together all of the currently unresolved appropriations
bills. Omnibus packages, due to their size and the necessity of
passing them, are notorious vehicles for appropriations
mischief, such as anti-environmental riders and underfunding of
environmental programs.
2. SENATE STYMIES ENERGY BILL
The Senate today blocked passage
of the massive energy bill that was described by Senator John
McCain (R-AZ) as a "leave no lobbyist behind
bill."
Today's vote was a cloture vote,
meaning that 60 votes were needed to stave off a filibuster and
bring the measure to a final vote. The vote tally 57-40 keeps
the bill from moving forward at this time, although Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) retains the option to bring up
the bill for another cloture vote at a later date.
Though it did not contain a
controversial provision to open the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge to oil drilling, environmentalists nonetheless opposed
the bill, which contains $20 billion in tax breaks for the oil,
gas and coal industries and failed to mandate increases in gas
mileage for automobiles.
The bill also contained a
controversial measure that would have shielded makers of the
gasoline additive MTBE from lawsuits charging that the chemical
polluted water supplies. The energy bill courted support from
farm-state Senators by including a provision that would have
doubled the use of ethanol as a gasoline additive; however,
opponents point out that the measure as proposed primarily
assisted large agribusinesses. Learn
more.
4. PROTESTS PREVAIL IN MIAMI
In Miami the latest round of the
World Trade "hemisphere" talks has ended in complete
failure. While 10,000 people took to Miami streets in peaceful
protest of the American led push for a Free
Trade Area for the America’s (FTAA), negotiators inside
called it quits. Seemingly intractable disagreements between the
US and other countries over agriculture, patent rights and
market access spurred the breakdown.
Simon Romero, writing in the New
York Times said this is summary: "In several ways, the
conclusion of the negotiations laid bare the difficulty United
States negotiators had in making concessions sought by Brazil
and Argentina on agricultural tariffs and subsidies."
According to Romero’s analysis,
such changes would have "put President Bush in a difficult
situation in critical electoral states like Florida, which has
large sugar and citrus industries, and in several states on the
Plains and in Georgia, where beef production is important."
4. THANKSGIVING DINNER WITH
WILLIE?
This year why not have
Thanksgiving dinner with Willie Nelson?
Next Thursday evening PBS
television stations nationally will be airing a two hour
Thanksgiving special featuring Willie, Neil Young, John
Mellencamp, and Dave Matthews. The show will include footage
from the September 2003 Farm
Aid concert and interviews with Willie and other Farm Aid
artists discussing the importance of supporting family farmers
growing sustainably produced food.
"I'll be eating something
organic on Thanksgiving," said Willie Nelson in a recent
interview. "You couldn't ask for a better day to connect
with Farm Aid because so much of the organization's work centers
on food and the benefits of buying safe food from local family
farmers."
During the show, a DVD of the
concert will be sold to viewers and a portion of all proceeds
will go to benefit Farm Aid and PBS. Check your local PBS
listings for time and channel.
Cultivating a vision where
rural and urban communities join together
to ensure abundant family farms, healthy critters, clean water and
a wild Earth.
If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this list,
visit our
Rural
Updates Subscriber Center. Read previous issues by
visiting our Rural
Updates Archive.
Rural Updates!
Scotty Johnson and Aimee Delach
National Rural Community Outreach Campaign
sjohnson@defenders.org
|
