Pennsylvania Farm Bureau
Camp Hill (Cumberland
Co.) “Farm Bureau has been
involved in a lot of legislative ac
tivity in Congress in recent
months aimed at helping to save
costs and improve net income,
both long term and short term,
for farmers,” said Guy Don
aldson, President of the Pennsyl
vania Farm Bureau. “Here’s a
report on some of the major is
sues, Farm Bureau has been
working on.”
Crop Insurance/
Farm Assistance
President Clinton signed legis
lation (H.R. 2559) passed by
Congress to spend $15.2 billion
for crop insurance reform and
farm assistance. The legislation
provides $B.l billion for in
creased premium subsidies, and
expansion of crop insurance pro
grams, including revenue insur
ance for livestock.
Another $7.1 billion is in
cluded for market assistance
payments with $5.5 billion going
to Agricultural Marketing Tran
sition Assistance (AMTA) and
$1.64 billion in payments for
minor crops. The legislation pro
vides $5.1 million for loss of in
come to fruit producers whose
orchards must be destroyed be
cause of Plum Pox Virus infec
tion.
Permanent Normal Trade
Relations For China Passes
House
The U.S. House of Representa
tives passed legislation granting
Permanent Normal Trade Rela
tions (PNTR) for China by a
larger margin than expected.
The U.S. Senate agreed to con
sider the legislation and act on its
passage without amendments.
This action will avoid the need
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for the legislation to go to confer
ence, and will allow it to go di
rectly to the President upon U.S.
Senate passage.
However, Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott (R. - Miss.) is
withholding Senate action on
PNTR for China. The specu
lation is that the Senate Majority
Leader is holding the PNTR vote
as a bargaining chip to gain more
cooperation with the administra
tion in passing appropriation
bills.
The Senate is expected to pass
the legislation by a wide margin.
Sen. Rick Santorum (R. - PA) fa
vors PNTR for China, while Sen.
Arlen Specter (R. - PA) opposes
it.
Estate Tax Eliminated
The House passed The Death
Tax Elimination Act (H.R. 8)
with a near veto-proof vote
(279-136). The House-approved
legislation repeals death taxes by
the year 2010. The legislation re
tains assets (up to $5.6 million)
on a stepped up basis when the
tax is repealed in 2010. The step
ped-up amount would be in
dexed to increase automatically
with the inflation rate. All estate
sizes would retain stepped-up
basis assets of $1.3 million.
If an estate were larger than
$1.3 million, the heirs could
choose which assets retain the
stepped-up basis. There would be
an additional $3 million of assets
eligible for stepped-up basis on
estates transfers between
spouses, bringing the total value
of stepped-up basis assets in such
transfers up to $4.3 million.
The legislation also reduces all
estate tax rates by about 15 per
cent over 10 years and lowers the
bottom effective rate from 37
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percent to 18 percent. The top
rate is cut from 55 percent to 53
percent in 2001 and to 50 percent
in 2002. All rates are reduced by
one percent in 2003-06, by 1.5
percent in 2007 and by two per
cent in 2008-09. The unified
credit is changed to an exemp-
tion in 2001 which lowers the
bottom estate tax rate from 37
percent to 18 percent.
Pennsylvania’s Congressional
Delegation vote on the legislation
split along party lines with Re
publicans favoring and Demo
crats opposing the legislation.
Most Democrats are support
ive of alternative legislation that
would address elimination of es
tate taxes for family-owned busi
nesses. The Senate is expected to
act on estate tax elimination
after the July 4th recess. Passage
is questionable, and the Senate
legislation is expected to mirror
the House version. Sen. Santo
rum supports estate tax elimina-
tion, while Sen. Specter is unde
cided. President Clinton has
threatened to veto the House
passed measure.
Agriculture Appropriations
U.S. Representative George R.
Nethercutt, Jr. (R. - WA) has
proposed an amendment that
would lift sanctions on agricul
tural and medical exports to
Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan
and Cuba. However, the amend
ment would allow the President
to reimpose the sanction with
both the House and Senate ap
proval.
Lacking sufficient support to
defeat the sanction’s amendment
in the House agricultural appro
priations bill (H.R. 4461), House
leadership delayed voting on the
measure. A similar sanction
of Elysburg, PA
amendment passed the Senate
Appropriations Committee and
was included in the Senate agri
cultural appropriations bill ( S.
2536). Sen. Lott will not allow
the Senate to act on the agricul
tural appropriations bill until
the House acts.
The estimated value of agri
cultural imports by these five
currently sanctioned countries
is $7 billion. If sanctions are lift
ed, U.S. agricultural exports are
expected to increase for rice,
wheat, corn, soybeans, feed
grains, milk powder, animal
products, fruits and vegetables.
Additional Issues
The Veterans Administration
Housing and Urban Develop
ment (VA HUD) appropriations
bill contains language to delay
the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) from implement
ing its proposed Total Maximum
Daily Load (TMDL) changes for
a year.
The language prohibits EPA
from spending funds to finalize
or implement the TMDL rule.
The House has passed (256-169)
the VA HUD and Independent
Agencies Appropriations bill
(H.R. 4635). The proposed
TMDL changes would mean
more regulatory compliance
costs for farmers and owners of
forest lands.
The Health and Human Serv
ices (HHS) appropriations bill
stops the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration
(OSHA) from implementing er-
gonomics regulations. The Sen
ate passed the bill on a party-line
vote with Democrats, joined by
Sen. Specter, opposing it. The er
gonomics proposal could affect
many agricultural workplaces.
nd
Buildin
xistin
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 15, 2000-A27
Lebanon Co.
Holstein
Field Night
REISTVILLE (Lebanon Co.)
This year’s Holstein Field
night will be hosted by Kirby and
Sheryl Horst (949-2331) and
family on Friday, July 21, 2000.
Once again this year, we will be
having a buffet style meal from
6:30 till 8:30. During that time,
we will be judging three classes
of animals. Door prizes and our
guest speaker, Tim Abott, from
ABS is also on the agenda. Come
out and enjoy some food, fun
and fellowship.
Directions: From Schaeffers
town Rt. 419 east to Millbach
Rd., turn left and first farm on
the left. From Myerstown Rt.
501 south to Reistville, turn left
onto Reistville Rd. and follow till
the stop sign. At stop sign, turn
left onto Rt. 419 east follow to
Millbach Rd., turn left and first
farm on the left.
Dauphin Holstein
Twilight Meeting
HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.)
The Dauphin Co. Holstein Club
will hold a twilight meeting at
the Jay Melvin Brandt farm lo
cated south of Hershey, east of
743 on Schoolhouse Road, on
July 27 at 7:30 p.m. There will
be a judging contest. Ray Seidel
will be the official judge and
speaker. Refreshments will be
served.
All dairymen and families are
invited.
For more information, please
contact Robert J. Schaffer, (717)
362-8405.
Renovations