Agricultural News
NCBA's Colin Woodall Says Omnibus Spending Bill Gives Cattle Industry an Early Christmas Gift
Wed, 23 Dec 2015 17:19:57 CST
The Omnibus spending bill and tax package that was voted on last week by Congress and was signed into law by President Obama contains a lot of different things for a lot of people. This was a major spending bill that covered the export of U.S. oil, Syrian refuges, but for farmers and ranchers, Colin Woodall of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association contends at the heart of it was Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) repeal. That means the U.S. will not see retaliation from Canada and Mexico, two of the top five export markets for U.S. beef. Woodall said this is a huge victory for the U.S. beef industry. Woodall adds the section 179, the depreciation language for small businesses, farmers and ranchers is huge as well. He said the cattle industry appreciates that being taken care of on a permanent basis.
The 2016 general election will be the top priority next year. Woodall said the November elections will decide who will control the White House and the U.S. Senate. In the meantime, he said there is a lot of work Congress can be doing on comprehensive tax reform. For NCBA, the list will be led by the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. Woodall said TPP needs to be passed sooner rather than later. The U.S. beef industry is most concerned about the disadvantage with Australia when it comes to tariff rates. If TPP is approved by Congress, this would level the playing field for the U.S. cattle industry. He said Australia and the Japanese government already have a trade deal, so Australian beef producers currently have over a ten percent tariff advantage over the United States, which has limited U.S. access into the Japanese market. Woodall said that's why passing TPP is so important.
"As a part of TPP, it puts all the countries back on the same tariff schedule, which would once again provide a level playing field for us and we know that whenever the tariff is the same and prices are not a factor, we can beat the Australians over quality any day of the week," Woodall said.
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays featured Woodall on today's Beef Buzz. Click or tap on the LISTEN BAR below to listen to the interview.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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