By Jon H. Harsch
© Copyright Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 – The House Agriculture Committee meets Thursday to consider first an “Oversight Plan” for reviewing the full range of federal programs and policies affecting agriculture and then “To review implementation of title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.” In preparation for the meeting, Committee Chair Frank Lucas, R-Okla., has drafted an oversight plan to include not just the Farm Bill and virtually all USDA programs, but also items such as:
-
“Review the impact of regulatory activities by the EPA and its effect on agriculture productivity;
-
“Review EPA's jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and its impact to U.S. agriculture;
-
“Review of potential impacts of EPA's Clean Air Act (CAA) regulatory program on U.S. agriculture;
-
“Review ongoing discussions and potential consequences for American agriculture of the United Nations Climate Change Conference;
-
“Review of the EPA's regulatory actions in regard to pesticide evaluations;
-
“Review of EPA's regulation of Animal Feeding Operations;
-
“Review implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act;
-
“Review implementation of the recent FDA Egg Safety rule;
-
“Review implementation of existing trade agreements and commitments as well as proposed new trade agreements and commitments to determine –
-
“whether they are consistent with current U.S. law;
-
“whether they will promote economic development in rural areas of the U.S.;
-
“Examine the CFTC, SEC and Federal Reserve rules as they relate to the exemption for commercial end-users, including the application of margin and capital to end-user OTC transactions . . .”
To read the nine-page draft oversight plan submitted by Lucas to the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee and the House Administration Committee, click HERE.
To return to the News Index page, click: www.agri-pulse.com
#30