[As Amended by House Committee of the
Whole]
As Amended by Senate Committee
Session of 1999
Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 1616
By Committee on Agriculture
3-18
11 A
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION urging Congress to remove or re-
12 strict the use of
trade sanctions as they apply to agricultural products,
13 and to work for the
reduction or elimination of trade barriers and
14 sanctions imposed by
other countries against agricultural products;
15 urging the secretary
of the United States department of agriculture to
16 provide greater
opportunities to the farmers of the United States by
17 taking greater
advantage of the export enhancement program; urging
18 Congress to require
country of origin labeling on foreign meat and
19 dairy products raised
and produced in other countries; urging Con-
20 gress to investigate
the need for mandatory price reporting by packers
21 in the livestock
industry; and urging Congress, the justice department
22 and the packers and
stockyard division of the United States department
23 of agriculture to
investigate market concentration and pending merg-
24 ers in the livestock
and grain industry.
25
26 WHEREAS, Economic
sanctions hinder the export of agricultural
27 products, exacerbating the transportation
of such products and possibly
28 lowering the price received by the Kansas
farmer for such agricultural
29 products; and
30 WHEREAS, The export of
agricultural commodities has provided the
31 United States the only positive return on
its balance of trade; and
32 WHEREAS, The only way
to ensure that a positive return on the bal-
33 ance of trade continues is to allow
international markets to remain open;
34 and
35 WHEREAS, The use of
unilateral economic sanctions rarely achieves
36 its goal, but cause substantial harm to the
producers of products; and
37 WHEREAS, Not only do
the sanctions imposed by the United States
38 cause lost market opportunities for the
Kansas farmer, but so do the unfair
39 trade barriers and sanctions imposed on
agricultural products by other
40 countries; and
41 WHEREAS, The storage
of grain on the ground in Kansas is just one
42 example of the adverse affects sanctions
have on agricultural products:
SCR 1616--Am. by HCW
2
1 NOW, THEREFORE,
2 Be it
resolved by the Senate of the State of Kansas, the House of
Rep-
3 resentatives concurring
therein: That Congress remove or restrict the use
4 of trade sanctions as they apply to
agricultural products and that Congress
5 ensure that the use of trade
sanctions will result in meaningful results;
6 WHEREAS, The
export enhancement program is one tool which can
7 expand foreign market opportunities;
and
8 WHEREAS, If the
Kansas farmer is to have the opportunity to prosper
9 and grow, the agricultural products
produced by the farmer must be able
10 to reach foreign markets; and
11 WHEREAS, The
stockpiling of grain is just one example of where the
12 lack of access to foreign markets hurts not
only the Kansas farmer but all
13 American farmers and the economy of the
United States in general:
14 NOW,THEREFORE,
15 Be it resolved:
That the secretary of the United States department of
16 agriculture is urged to take greater
advantage of the export enhancement
17 program; and
18 Be it further
resolved: That Congress work for the reduction and elim-
19 ination of trade barriers and sanctions
imposed by other countries against
20 agricultural products; and
21 WHEREAS, Foreign meat
and dairy products must be raised or pro-
22 duced under the same regulatory standards
to ensure consumer health
23 and safety as meat and dairy products
raised and produced in the United
24 States; and
25 WHEREAS, Numerous
cattle producers have testified before the Kan-
26 sas Legislature that this issue needs to be
investigated and decided in
27 Congress: NOW, THEREFORE,
28 Be it resolved:
That Congress pass laws that require country of origin
29 labeling on foreign meat and dairy products
raised and produced in other
30 countries as currently required for
meat and dairy products raised in the
31 United States with
such labeling on the final consumer product; and
32 WHEREAS, Pork and beef
associations presented resolutions and tes-
33 timony on the need and value of mandatory
price reporting; and
34 WHEREAS,
Discriminatory pricing and retaliatory actions are unac-
35 ceptable in an open market system;
and
36 WHEREAS,
Pork and beef associations also support a marketing
37 system free from unnecessary
government regulations; and
38
[WHEREAS, Producers should consider participating in
mar-
39 keting alliances, cooperatives and other
innovative methods of
40 marketing livestock in order to focus on
changing consumer de-
41 mands and to regain market share;
and]
42 WHEREAS,
Pork and beef associations support a system free of
43 government restrictions on livestock
ownership[, unless such live-
SCR 1616--Am. by HCW
3
1 stock ownership restricts free and
competitive markets or is a vi-
2 olation of antitrust laws]:
NOW, THEREFORE,
3 Be it
resolved: That Congress continue to investigate mandatory
price
4 reporting in the livestock industry
and, if warranted, pass appropriate
5 legislation that will assure a free
and open market for our independent
6 farmers and ranchers; and
7 WHEREAS,
Concentration of segments of the beef and pork indus-
8 tries is occurring; and
9 WHEREAS, Such
concentration must not result in lower commodity
10 prices for Kansas farmers and ranchers and
higher food prices for Amer-
11 ican consumers; and
12 WHEREAS, the
merger of Cargill and Continental Grain would give
13 one company control of over 40
percent of the world's grain export market
14 Pending mergers of grain companies
could result in disproportion-
15 ate control of the grain
market; and
16 WHEREAS, Renewed
investigative efforts, including enforcement of
17 the antitrust laws, must be generated by
the justice department and the
18 packers and stockyards division of the
United States department of ag-
19 riculture to ensure the competitive market
structure: NOW,
20 THEREFORE,
21 Be it resolved:
That the justice department and the packers and stock-
22 yard division of the United States
department of agriculture enforce the
23 antitrust laws in the livestock and grain
industry; and
24 Be it further
resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send
25 enrolled copies of this resolution to the
President of the United States,
26 the Vice-President of the United States,
Majority Leader and Minority
27 Leader of the United States Senate, the
Speaker, Majority Leader and
28 Minority Leader of the United States House
of Representatives, the Sec-
29 retary of the United States Department of
Agriculture, the Attorney Gen-
30 eral of the United States and to each
member of the Kansas Congressional
31 Delegation.
32