Monday, December 15, 2014

Vilsack passes the buck on COOL

United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is passing the buck on Country of Origin Labeling regulations, claiming his hands are tied and it’s up to Congress to change the law.

That's rather ironic, coming from a member of the Obama administration that has been moving ahead on a number of fronts without new legislative authority, such as on illegal immigration.

The World Trade Organization has twice ruled that the regulations unfairly discriminate against Canadian and Mexican beef and hog farmers. The COOL regulations are depressing Canadian prices by more than $600 million a year for cattle and more than $5 billion for hogs, according to economic studies commissioned by the Canadian farmers.

On Thursday the House of Representatives passed a $1 trillion spending package that includes a requirement that Vilsack and his United States Department of Agriculture recommend action on COOL.

But Vilsack told reporters attending the Farm Journal Forum in Washington “we’re stuck. We need congressional action.”

“They need to convince me they’ve got the votes to do something.

“They’ve been given opportunities on a couple of occasions, but they have yet to solve the problem.

“They don’t try to solve the problem.

“They make me report back to them how they can solve the problem,” Vilsack said.

Things just get weirder and weirder in Washington.

The U.S. has filed an appeal of the latest WTO ruling. Most consider it a only a delaying tactic with little chance of success.


Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has repeatedly warned that if the U.S. fails to get rid of the discrimination, Canada will seek World Trade Organization approval to impose a long list of tariffs on U.S. products.