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Bush skips ethanol, farm bill in State of the Union
Monday, January 28, 2008, 11:39 PM

by Peter Shinn

President Bush touched on some issues important to ag producers in his State of the Union Address Monday night and left out some others. Among the highlights were a call for to make permanent tax cuts that sunset after 2010 and a plea for Congress to tackle immigration reform.

And President Bush spent more than two-and-a- half minutes of his speech on the importance of free trade, urging completion of a new global trade agreement in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization talks by the end of this year. He also praised Congress for passing the Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) last year and urged them to move forward on other pending FTAs.

"I thank the Congress for approving a good agreement with Peru," President Bush said. "And now I ask you to approve agreements with Colombia and Panama and South Korea."

Those pending trade deals are supported by most ag and commodity groups, though R-CALF USA is one notable exception. On the other hand, the National Pork Producers Council has been among the most vocal supporters of all three pending FTAs.

President Bush made no mention of the pending farm bill. But he did threaten to veto any bill that included any tax increase, and the White House has characterized the revenue generating components of both the House and Senate versions of the farm bill as tax hikes. And President Bush did focus on a specific provision of the farm bill he wants to see included, cash purchases of local food for foreign aid programs.

"Today, more than half the world's food aid comes from the United States," he noted. "And tonight I ask Congress to support an innovative proposal to provide food assistance by purchasing crops directly from farmers in the developing world so we can build up local agriculture and help break the cycle of famine."

American wheat industry groups generally oppose local cash food purchases for foreign aid programs by the U.S., as does National Farmers Union. The Senate did include a $100 million pilot program for such purchases in its version of the farm bill.

And for the first time since 2004, President Bush didn’t specifically mention ethanol or biodiesel in his State of the Union Address. While repeating his support for clean renewable energy, President Bush instead called for research into clean burning coal technology and nuclear power.


Related Links:
State of the Union Address

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