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Corn
Growers Can Capitalize on Leadership in TPA Passage (8-29-01)
This
is the final article in a four-part series on the importance of Trade
Promotion Authority to corn growers and U.S. agriculture as a whole.
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) urges corn growers to voice
their support of TPA to their elected officials during the Congressional
recess.
When
President Bush huddled in Washington, D.C., last month with U.S. agricultural
leaders to galvanize support for the proposed legislation of Trade Promotion
Authority (TPA), National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President-Elect
and Walsh, Colo., corn grower Tim Hume was there.
"Congress
must pass TPA legislation to assure that the administration is able
to negotiate the best trade agreements for U.S. agriculture," Hume
said. "Real progress in market access will only occur through serious
trade negotiation. Congress can best make serious negotiation a reality
by passing TPA."
Hume
emphasized NCGA's leverage as an active leader in domestic and international
agriculture and in U.S. public policy.
"The
opportunity to appear before Congress and to meet with the President
shows that legislative leaders and the Administration regard NCGA as
a leader in the agricultural producer community," Hume explained.
"Each and every corn grower should capitalize on NCGA's leadership
by contacting U.S. senators and representatives and telling them to
pass TPA."
NCGA
Public Policy Action Team Chairman and Coshocton, Ohio, corn grower
Brent Porteus, noted how important it is for Congress to pass TPA before
the end of the calendar year. "The longer we wait, the more we
sacrifice U.S. leadership in trade policy," he said. "Our
trading partners have said it will be more difficult to negotiate market-opening
agreements without TPA."
NCGA
urges corn growers and other U.S. trade supporters to contact their
elected officials supporting of TPA. To contact your senator and representatives,
click on the Action Alert on the NCGA web site: http://capwiz.com/ncga/issues/alert/?alertid=46085&type=CO&azip=.
More information on NCGA's stance on TPA and other trade issues is available
on the NCGA website at http://www.ncga.com/trade/main/index.html.
Last
reviewed August 29, 2001
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