-----Original Message-----
From: Shae Dodson [mailto:
[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2005 11:30 AM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: Dow Jones: Senate Rec'd. Notification of USDA Border Plan
2/11/2005 6:51:35 PM
Senate Received Notification Of USDA Border Plan
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Keith Williams, spokesman for the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, confirmed late Friday that the Senate had received notification of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plans to lift a ban on Canadian cattle.
Williams said the notification was received by the Senate executive clerk and then passed on to the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Notification became an issue Friday when Senator Kent Conrad, D.-N.D., in a prepared statement, said USDA had failed to notify the Senate of its plans and that the mistake might delay the March 7 border opening.
Later Friday, USDA spokeswoman Alisa Harrison said the USDA did not mistakenly forget to notify the Senate of its plans and that the border was still scheduled to be opened March 7.
Harrison showed reporters photocopies of receipts she said proved USDA notified the Senate on Jan. 4 of its intention to open the border.
"We followed the rules and transmitted it properly, (meeting) all of the legal requirements," Harrison said. "We consider March 7 to still be the effective date."
The USDA sent the notifications to the Senate, House of Representatives and the General Accounting Office as a matter of routine, Harrison said.
The notification was sent, according to the receipts, to Vice President Dick Cheney's office in the Senate and to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert,
R-Ill.