Representatives urge vote on Columbia FTA
Washington Ag Today November 27, 2009 Thirty-five members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Washington Congressman Doc Hastings, have written House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requesting an up or down vote on the Columbia free trade agreement “without further delay.” Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rogers also signed the letter in which the members focused on jobs. The U.S.-Columbia free trade agreement was signed by both countries in 2006 but has languished due to a heavy legislative calendar and for other political reasons. When he spoke at the recent Washington Association of Wheat Growers convention USDA Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, Jim Miller, said the Obama Administration would like to see all three pending free trade agreements ratified but he wasn’t optimistic. Miller: “Quite frankly I don’t think the prospects are extremely bright in Congress for either those free trade agreements or even if there was some agreement that might come out of the WTO negotiations in the near future. So I certainly don‘t see anything happening in the few weeks remaining in this year.” Miller said next year might be a different environment but then there is the off-year election next fall. Among the agricultural organizations supporting the Columbia FTA are the Washington State Potato Commission, the Washington State Farm Bureau, the Northwest Horticultural Council, the National Cattlemen‘s Beef Association and the National Association of Wheat Growers. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
