NCBA sees quick Congressional action on M-COOL
Thursday, December 7, 2006, 1:49 PM
National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) legislative affairs director Colin Woodall covered the waterfront of cattle industry issues in remarks Thursday morning to the Iowa Cattlemen's Association annual convention in Des Moines. But he focused on the expected changes a Congress controlled by Democrats will mean to NCBA's legislative agenda.
Perhaps most significantly, Woodall predicted Democratic control of Congress would limit NCBA's ability to get things done in Washington D.C. "Here, the past several years, NCBA's been able to go at a shotgun approach - pull the trigger and go after every single hole we can find and try to plug it, because we had a lot of friends, a lot of people who were on our side and would help us," Woodall said. "That's not so much the case anymore."
Woodall said that would make gaining permanent repeal of the estate tax, also known as the death tax, a long-time legislative goal of NCBA, much more difficult. While NCBA hasn't been successful in that effort, the group has played an important role in gaining a multi-year delay in implementation of mandatory country-of-origin labeling (M-COOL) for meat. But Woodall predicted a Democrat-controlled Congress would move implementation of M-COOL forward from its currently scheduled date of September 30th, 2008.
"I fully expect that we will see efforts here within the first couple of weeks of this new Congress to get mandatory country-of-origin labeling bumped up," Woodall said. He said Congressional supporters of M-COOL would likely try to move the implementation date forward to September 30th of 2007.
Moreover, Woodall said he believed a ban on packer ownership of livestock would get renewed attention by the 110th Congress. "[Incoming Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman] Senator Harkin is a big proponent of a ban on packer ownership, [incoming House Agriculture Committee Chairman] Mr. Peterson has been in the past as well, so we're going to see how that plays out," Woodall said. "That's going to be a hot topic."
Woodall pointed out NCBA's policy on packer ownership of livestock, which currently opposes a ban, is up for renewal at this year's NCBA annual convention, which gets underway at the end of January in Nashville, Tennessee. And he said NCBA would likely discuss adoption of a policy on ethanol at that meeting as well, especially since Nebraska Cattlemen adopted an ethanol policy at that group's annual meeting last week that opposes any further ethanol mandates and a gradual phase-out of tax benefits for ethanol production.
In the meantime, Woodall said the potential for reduced influence on Congress by NCBA heightened the need for the involvement of individual livestock producers in the legislative process. He said that's especially true since Congressional districts have become decreasingly rural, and given the legislative successes of extremist animal rights groups like the Humane Society of the U.S.
"We are being attacked - animal agriculture, agriculture as a whole, is under attack," Woodall asserted. "We're not getting the funding we used to - we have fewer true rural districts in Congress and we've got an animal rights group that is coming after us left and right," he added. "So we need your help to be involved, to stay informed on what's going on in Washington D.C., to write letters, to call your Congressman and to get your voice across, because they do listen to you."
Thursday, December 7, 2006, 1:49 PM
National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) legislative affairs director Colin Woodall covered the waterfront of cattle industry issues in remarks Thursday morning to the Iowa Cattlemen's Association annual convention in Des Moines. But he focused on the expected changes a Congress controlled by Democrats will mean to NCBA's legislative agenda.
Perhaps most significantly, Woodall predicted Democratic control of Congress would limit NCBA's ability to get things done in Washington D.C. "Here, the past several years, NCBA's been able to go at a shotgun approach - pull the trigger and go after every single hole we can find and try to plug it, because we had a lot of friends, a lot of people who were on our side and would help us," Woodall said. "That's not so much the case anymore."
Woodall said that would make gaining permanent repeal of the estate tax, also known as the death tax, a long-time legislative goal of NCBA, much more difficult. While NCBA hasn't been successful in that effort, the group has played an important role in gaining a multi-year delay in implementation of mandatory country-of-origin labeling (M-COOL) for meat. But Woodall predicted a Democrat-controlled Congress would move implementation of M-COOL forward from its currently scheduled date of September 30th, 2008.
"I fully expect that we will see efforts here within the first couple of weeks of this new Congress to get mandatory country-of-origin labeling bumped up," Woodall said. He said Congressional supporters of M-COOL would likely try to move the implementation date forward to September 30th of 2007.
Moreover, Woodall said he believed a ban on packer ownership of livestock would get renewed attention by the 110th Congress. "[Incoming Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman] Senator Harkin is a big proponent of a ban on packer ownership, [incoming House Agriculture Committee Chairman] Mr. Peterson has been in the past as well, so we're going to see how that plays out," Woodall said. "That's going to be a hot topic."
Woodall pointed out NCBA's policy on packer ownership of livestock, which currently opposes a ban, is up for renewal at this year's NCBA annual convention, which gets underway at the end of January in Nashville, Tennessee. And he said NCBA would likely discuss adoption of a policy on ethanol at that meeting as well, especially since Nebraska Cattlemen adopted an ethanol policy at that group's annual meeting last week that opposes any further ethanol mandates and a gradual phase-out of tax benefits for ethanol production.
In the meantime, Woodall said the potential for reduced influence on Congress by NCBA heightened the need for the involvement of individual livestock producers in the legislative process. He said that's especially true since Congressional districts have become decreasingly rural, and given the legislative successes of extremist animal rights groups like the Humane Society of the U.S.
"We are being attacked - animal agriculture, agriculture as a whole, is under attack," Woodall asserted. "We're not getting the funding we used to - we have fewer true rural districts in Congress and we've got an animal rights group that is coming after us left and right," he added. "So we need your help to be involved, to stay informed on what's going on in Washington D.C., to write letters, to call your Congressman and to get your voice across, because they do listen to you."