Untitled Document

News Release
Congressman Bob Etheridge
North Carolina

February 6 , 2004

Contact: Sara Lang
Phone: (202) 225-4531

Etheridge Keeps the Pressure on Committee to Consider Buyout Bill

WASHINGTON - As North Carolina's farm families prepare for another tobacco season, U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) wrote to U.S. House Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte to urge an immediate markup of HR 3160, the bipartisan consensus buyout legislation introduced last year. Etheridge penned the letter in response to published reports that members of the Republican leadership have committed to mark up buyout legislation and allow eventual House consideration of the legislation.

"North Carolina's farm families are making tough choices right now, deciding if they can stay in business another year," Etheridge said. "Holding a mark-up of this buyout legislation would give farmers a sense of hope and confidence that Congress will finally deal with the downward spiral of the federal tobacco system this year. I hope the Chairman and the Republican leadership will live up to their promises and get the buyout moving."

A January 28th article in "The Hill," a Capitol Hill newspaper, reported that Republican lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Richard Burr (R-NC), had secured assurances from Chairman Goodlatte that he would hold a mark-up of a buyout bill this session. The article also reported that Burr had secured promises from House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay that they would allow a floor vote for whatever buyout bill emerges from the Agriculture Committee. To read the entire article, please visit http://www.thehill.com/business/012804_tobacco.aspx. February 4th articles in the Lexington Herald-Leader (http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/state/7869550.htm) and the Winston Salem Journal reported that Speaker Hastert has committed to moving tobacco buyout legislation through the Agriculture Committee and to the House floor.

Etheridge wrote on behalf of North Carolina's 18,000 tobacco farm families and 95,000 tobacco quota holders to urge consideration of HR 3160, the "Tobacco Reduction, Accountability and Community Enhancement (TRACE) Act." The bipartisan legislation combines the best elements of buyout bills previously introduced in the U.S. House and is modeled after the Senate buyout plan. Under the TRACE Act, buyout payments would be based on an average of tobacco quota from 1997 through 2002. Tobacco quota owners would receive $8 per pound for quota owned after July 1, 2002. Farmers would receive $4 for their average tobacco production from 2000-2002. These payments would be made in equal amounts over a seven-year period.

Because of declining tobacco leaf purchases from tobacco companies, the federal government has reduced tobacco quotas by more than 50 percent since 1997, cutting in half the incomes of both tobacco growers and quota holders. A tobacco buyout would reform the current tobacco quota system, compensating tobacco quota holders for the elimination of quota, assisting tobacco farmers with the transition and injecting nearly $6 billion into rural North Carolina's economy.