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.
