April 25, 2012
www.gfb.org
Vol. 30 No. 17
GFB COUNTY PRESIDENTS TAKE PRIORITY ISSUES TO WASHINGTON A group of 110 Georgia Farm Bureau members and staff met with Georgia’s congressional delegation on April 19, asking for support on legislation relating to issues important to the organization - the 2012 farm bill, Clean Water Act, federal estate tax reform and farm labor. During a breakfast meeting, Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss each spoke to the GFB group. Isakson noted that a number of forced changes in the U.S. tax code set to take place on Jan. 1, 2013, make the post-election period in 2012 “the most threatening and potentially the most exciting seven weeks in the history of American government.” Isakson noted that the federal estate tax is scheduled to revert to a $1 million exemption with a 55 percent top rate on Jan. 1, and the marginal tax rates established in 2003 all go away. “I hope we’ll take the opportunity with the crisis we’re going to have with all these things expiring and all the rates going up by having true comprehensive tax reform,” Isakson said. “It’s been 26 years since the U.S. looked at the tax code, put it on the table, and did away with the deductions and exemptions that didn't work and attempted to lower the marginal rates. Now you have nothing but uncertainty, and that uncertainty causes people to sit on their capital, sit on their investment, and it keeps our economy very sluggish.” Chambliss gave a farm bill update, noting that the Senate Agriculture Committee was close to issuing a proposed bill. (A story about the bill, which was released on April 20, is on page 2.) American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman gave a brief overview of activities of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA), a coalition of national agricultural groups that just finished its first full year of existence. “There’s a whole cadre of people out there making a living trashing what we do,” said Stallman, who is also president of the USFRA. “We agreed to focus on one thing … to develop this dialogue with the consumers, so consumers can directly relate to farmers and ranchers, and they don’t have these other people making up stuff and telling them what they ought to be thinking.” AFBF Senior Director of Regulatory Relations Don Parrish discussed efforts by the EPA and the Obama Administration to remove the term “navigable” from the Clean Water Act. “They’re trying to cut corners and do what Congress wouldn’t do,” said Parrish, who urged GFB members to express support for legislation that would prevent this from happening. On April 20, Kay Johnson Smith of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, spoke at a breakfast meeting and stressed the importance of educating consumers and media about the care taken for farm animals.