03/09/05 What`s new with beef?, Finale

U.S.D.A, and its head, Ag Secretary Mike Johanns, remains strong in its resolve that the U.S. must reopen its border to Canadian live cattle thirty months and younger, and beef from such cows. That is despite what last week seemed to be growing opposition to such a move. It started with the ruling of a U.S. District Court judge in Montana granted R-C.A.L.F. U.S.A.'s request for a temporary injunction to halt U.S.D.A.'s plan to reopen the border this past Monday. In his ruling, Judge Richard Cebull ordered both sides to prepare a timeline for hearings and briefs for an upcoming trial to determine if the injunction should be permanent. Both U.S.D.A. and R-C.A.L.F. U.S.A. have ten days from the March Second ruling to prepare those documents. But U.S.D.A. also has that same amount of time to file an appeal of the Cebull ruling. U.S.D.A. has not officially said whether or it would appeal. But Ag Secretary Johanns has been more vocal to another setback in the Canada plan & a measure voted on by the U.S. Senate last Thursday. That resolution calls for U.S.D.A. to overturn its plan to reopen the border. And it passed by a 52 to 46 margin, but not before there was significant debate over the merits of the resolution. SENATORS: There should be no rush to open this border. I don't believe that the policy being proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is risky. We have a huge stake in seeing worldwide trade in beef resumed on the basic of sound science. Sound science I believe dictates that it is time to open the border. The measure now moves on to the U.S. House of Representatives for its consideration. Now understand the resolution is mostly symbolic in nature, yet Johanns said he would fight in the House to keep the measure from passing. And as if Johanns needed extra support, the Bush Administration stated if the resolution was approved by both sides of Congress, he would immediately veto it. Maybe overshadowed by the Canadian resolution, was a similar, non-binding resolution that came out of the House that same day. Under the measure sponsored by Kansas Representative Jerry Moran, Japan must resume import of U.S. beef banned since 2003. Otherwise, Congress will call upon the U.S. Trade Representatives Office to seek economic sanctions against Japan. Considering U.S.D.A. has made reopening Japan to our beef a top priority, that measure, in what had been a challenging week for the agency, was probably a nice touch of good news.