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Listed below are ASA's priority policy
issues. Sections are linked to pages that contain additional information and
details about that issue. These are the issues that ASA and state
soybean leaders discussed with their Congressional representatives during Hill visits on
Tuesday, March 15, 2005.
View
or download 17 page, 40KB PDF file of Issues and Backgrounders.
Agriculture and the Federal Budget
ASA opposes cuts in spending on agriculture,
trade, nutrition, and conservation programs in the FY-2006 budget, or reopening
the 2002 Farm Bill. We oppose the policy changes proposed in the President’s
Budget, including reduction of payment limitations and restriction of marketing
loan and loan deficiency payment eligibility. We support full funding of the
Conservation Security Program.
[Learn more.]
Biodiesel
ASA supports extending the biodiesel tax
incentive beyond its scheduled expiration after 2006, and proper implementation
of the current tax incentive, including restricting vegetable oils eligible for
the $1.00/gallon agri-biodiesel incentive to the list of vegetable oils included
in last year’s JOBS legislation. We support a federal Renewable Fuels Standard
(RFS), a small agri-biodiesel producer credit, and full funding of the CCC
Bioenergy Program at the authorized level of $150 million.
[Read
the Biodiesel Tax Extension Letter of May 25, 2005]
[Learn
more about Biodiesel.]
[Learn
more about Bio-based Products.]
Soybean Rust
With confirmation of soybean rust in the United
States, funding is needed both this year and in FY-2006 for USDA to implement a
coordinated framework for rust surveillance, reporting, diagnosis, prediction,
and management. Congress must immediately urge the Administration to use
emergency Commodity Credit Corporation authority to fund this coordinated system
in 2005, and funds must be provided in FY-2006 appropriations to maintain and,
if needed, expand this framework.
ASA also urges Congress to appropriate funds in
FY-2006 for critical rust research:
A. Research to locate and determine the
function of genes involved in rust resistance. Columbia, MO; Raleigh, NC;
Donald Dansforth Plant Science Center. ($600,000)
B. Research to translate genomics
information from other legume crops and model legumes to soybeans, including
identification of rust resistance genes in common bean (Phaseolus). Total
funding needed: $1.5 million
a. Phaseolus research, St. Paul, MN,
and Beltsville, MD ($700,000)
b. Phaseolus genetic fingerprinting,
USDA-ARS at Wooster, OH ($300,000)
c. CSREES/NRI for competitive research
proposals on translational genomics in legume crops ($500,000)
[Learn more.]
Soybean Research and Appropriations
In addition to rust research funding (above),
ASA supports the following provisions in FY-2006 appropriations:
· Restoring funding for ongoing soybean
research in the ARS budget.
· Adoption of report language on the
Legume Crops Genomics Initiative.
· Full funding of the CCC Bioenergy
Program at $150 million.
· Increased funding of the Conservation
Security Program, as proposed in the President’s Budget.
· $400,000 to fund soybean protein
research in the upper Midwest, as proposed in the President’s Budget.
[Learn more.]
Trans Fats
ASA urges Congress to support the
differentiation by FDA and USDA of soybean oil and other vegetable oils that are
high in unsaturated fats as healthy oils, compared to oils high in saturated
fats, as they prepare to revise the Nutrition Facts panel and Food Guide
Pyramid.
[Learn more.]
Transportation and Infrastructure
ASA strongly supports legislation to provide
$1.46 billion for construction of seven new locks and other improvements on the
upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, as provided in last year’s Water
Resources Development Act (WRDA).
[Learn more.]
Conservation
ASA supports targeting conservation funding for
improving water quality and enhancing conservation practices on working lands,
rather than for land-retirement programs. Toward this end, we support full
funding of the Conservation Security Program (CSP) and EQIP program, and more
conservation-focused re-enrollment of lands in the CRP.
[Learn more.]
Trade Agreements
DR-CAFTA
– ASA strongly supports ratification of the Dominican Republic – Central
America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). CAFTA immediately eliminates tariffs on
all soy products, and expands access for pork and poultry products to these six
countries. The Dominican Republic is the fifth largest export market for U.S.
soybean meal, valued at $73 million annually.
ASA opposes exempting import sensitive
commodities from FTA negotiations because exemptions invite similar actions by
U.S. trading partners, including excluding soy and livestock products from
tariff reductions.
WTO
– ASA supports a big outcome on market access in the WTO trade negotiations.
Increased market access and economic growth worldwide are critical, not only for
U.S. soybean producers, but for the U.S. poultry, pork, beef and dairy
industries, which are our largest customers. It is critical that both developed
and developing countries provide greater market access in the negotiations. ASA
insists that any final agreement must subject net agricultural exporting
developing countries like Brazil and Argentina to the same disciplines on
domestic support, export subsidies, and market access as developed countries.
[Learn more.]
EU T&L Biotech Regulation
The European Union’s new regulation requiring
traceability and labeling (T&L) of food products containing biotech
ingredients are discriminatory, not based on science, and has caused U.S. soy
and food product exports to the EU to drop dramatically. ASA and other
agriculture-based trade associations have asked the Administration to file a WTO
case against the EU T&L regulation. At our request, the Senate Finance
Committee is preparing to ask the International Trade Commission to investigate
the economic impacts of this regulation.
ASA and other agriculture groups ask Congress
to urge the Administration to file a WTO case against the EU’s
trade-distorting Traceability and Labeling regulation.
[Learn more.]
Also see Dispelling
the myths about Biotechnology (updated January 2005)
Food Aid
ASA strongly supports all U.S. food assistance
programs. We firmly believe that American farmers play a significant role in
alleviating world hunger, and that food aid should not be replaced by cash
donations.
ASA supports USAID Title II funding at the
current minimum of $1.2 billion, and opposes reductions in development food aid
to offset shortfalls in emergency funding. ASA also opposes shifting funds from
U.S. food assistance to a disaster relief program, which would procure non-U.S.
food or non-food items. Other USAID funds should be used to cover non-food
emergency aid, such as water, shelter, and reconstruction.
[Learn more.]
Revisit ASA's
PRIORITY POLICY ISSUES FOR 2004
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