by Tonya Ratliff / Agweb.com
Even though Ann Veneman won't start her Senate confirmation hearing until Thursday, she will have a problem already waiting for her as she enters her new job as ag secretary. At what will probably be his last news conference today, current Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman said he would let Veneman and the Bush administration decide how the World Trade Organization should classify the emergency payments given to farmers for the past three years. Asked by reporters if he was "dumping" the issue onto Veneman, Glickman said, "That's not dumping, that's handing over an interesting problem." He added that although the United States has already missed their initial deadline for classifying the payments, it would be "imprudent" for him to classify the payments and tie the hands of the new administration to that position during the current agricultural trade round. Under WTO rules, each country that makes payments to farmers must report to the organization whether payments are trade-distorting. The payments in the 1996 farm bill were classified as not trade distorting because they were not tied to production or price. However, because the emergency payments were established in reaction to low prices, critics claim they are trade distorting. The issue will be a challenge for Veneman because free-trade advocates want the payments classified as trade distorting, while some members of Congress disagree. Glickman also said at the news conference that Veneman, a Californian, should spend quite a bit of time in the Midwest and the South to please Congress. Other issues facing Veneman, according to Glickman are:
Mad-cow disease, which, the government thinks, has not spread from Europe to the United States, but "this is one area we cannot rest on our laurels, at all," Glickman said, adding that scientists at Harvard are studying whether the government's preventive measures are adequate. USDA prohibits the import of European cattle, and the Food and Drug Administration has banned the feeding of animal proteins, such as meat and bone meal, to cattle and sheep.
Personnel issues will take up a large part of her time, Glickman said, adding that he tried "to make this (USDA) a better, fairer, and more just place to work. ... That hasn't always been easy, but we've made great progress."
Under Glickman, the department settled a class-action lawsuit over its former treatment of black farmers and is now being sued by Indians, Hispanic and women with similar discrimination complaints. Veneman's confirmation hearing begins at 9 a.m. (EST) Thursday at the 538 Dirksen Senate Office Building. To listen to the hearing, go to C-Span.:
