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In news that will be of interest to our agriculture industry, World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations have been put on hold after no agreement could be reached. Our trade team made the right decision to walk away from the negotiating table at this time. A close look at the proposals from other countries shows that they were full of loopholes and would have resulted in little or no market access gains. We had the most ambitious offer on the table, but the U.S. was still told it was not enough.
I want to commend our trade team for listening to members of the House Agriculture Committee and to American farmers by not committing to a deal that would have been bad for U.S. agriculture. Before these latest negotiations got underway, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab met with me and other Committee members. We told them that no deal is better than a bad deal. It is clear from the outcome of the talks that they took our words to heart and stood up for American agriculture.
As of right now, it is unknown when the trade talks will resume. Good trade agreements have potential to open new markets for U.S. farmers and ranchers and break down barriers that deny our producers opportunities to find new customers, and I will continue to support trade when we make good deals. The United States has one of the most open markets in the world, and we should continue to negotiate agreements with other countries willing to work with us.
Sunset Commission Could Help Reduce Wasteful Spending
Former President Ronald Reagan once stated that "the nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program." After serving several years in Congress, I see that there was a lot of truth in that statement. It is for that reason, that I am a strong supporter of legislation that will likely be voted on by the House this week. This legislation, H.R. 3282, establishes a “sunset commission” that would consist of 12 members, with equal representation from both political parties and both houses of Congress. The job of the commission will be to review all federal agencies in order to evaluate the efficiency and usefulness of each agency. Each agency would then be up for review at least once every 12 years.
Experience at the state level of government shows that a sunset commission would prove to be a valuable tool in reducing the deficit. In fact, Texas, which is one of 24 states to use this tool, has saved $750 million by sunsetting 52 obsolete state agencies. I hope that Congress gets behind this common sense proposal that will enable us to reduce the amount of waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
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