Issues
Agriculture International Fairness
Over the past few years, I have advanced
a number of initiatives to ensure that our farmers compete
on a fair playing field in the international marketplace,
and, at the same time, American consumers benefit from the
high-quality products that farmers produce.
Dairy
In 2001, after hearing concerns about
rising imports of milk protein concentrate (MPCs), I introduced
the
Quality Cheese Act, which would prevent the Food and Drug
Administration from changing the definition of natural cheese
to include MPCs. At the same time, I joined with a number
of my colleagues in the Wisconsin delegation to commission
a General Accounting Office report, which was released in
March 2003. This report showed that a loophole in our trade
laws may be resulting in increased imports of dry milk products
during a time of historically low milk prices.
To follow up on this report I joined my
colleague Senator Mark Dayton (D-MN) to propose legislation
which would impose new tariff rate quotas on nonindustrial
uses of casein, casein products, and milk protein concentrate.
I continue to speak out against the use of this trade loophole
and its negative impact on Wisconsin’s dairy farm families,
including providing testimony to the U.S. International Trade
Commission for their fact-finding investigation. The Commission's
report, "Conditions of Competition for Milk Protein Products
the U.S. Market" found that MPCs have displaced 318 million
pounds of domestically produced milk proteins, reinforcing
the need for tariffs to stem the tide of cheap imports.
Pork
Exports of pork products to Mexico have
been threatened by anti-dumping cases brought against the
U.S. by Mexico. I urged Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman
and Trade Representative Robert Zoellick to use the tools
necessary to ensure that Mexico does not restrict U.S. pork
exports. In June of 2005, Mexico dropped an anti-dumping case
that was filed in early 2003 regarding a number of U.S. pork
products; however, this good news was tempered by Mexico’s
initiation of a new antidumping case involving fresh and frozen
unprocessed ham products. I again requested the assistance
of Secretary Veneman and Ambassador Zoellick to ensure that
the Mexican market remains open to U.S. pork exports. I will
continue to advocate on behalf of Wisconsin’s farmers when
they are faced with unfair trade barriers.
Ginseng
Working with Wisconsin ginseng growers,
I was proud to introduce legislation with Representative Dave
Obey (D-WI) to provide consumers with reliable labeling of
the ginseng that they buy. This legislation, known as the
Ginseng Harvest Labeling Act of 2004, is an effort to ensure
that consumers can make informed decisions about, and have
confidence in, the ginseng they buy. The new law would require
that ginseng, as a raw agricultural commodity, be sold at
retail with a label clearly indicating the country that the
ginseng was harvested in. Wisconsin ginseng is widely known
to be some of the best in the world, and mislabeling is significantly
undermining Wisconsin ginseng growers. The legislation I introduced
would help put a stop to this problem. While the bill was
not acted on last year, I have reintroduced it in the 109th
Congress as S.854.
Agriculture
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