This Week at AVA

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June 30, 2000
TO: AVA Members
FR: Simon Siegl, President
RE: This Week at AVA

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  • FEDERAL ISSUES

    • Death Tax Repeal - Progress Report
      H.R. 8, the repeal of the Death (Estate) tax passed overwhelmingly in the House on June 9th. The Senate is now considering whether to bring up and pass this popular measure which is of vital importance to family owned businesses and farms such as our member wineries. Senate rules will require a vote of 60 Senators in order to break a filibuster. This vote is scheduled for the week of July 10. Key Senators whose votes could be critical and who are not yet committed to passage of H.R. 8 are:
      Evan Bayh, (D - IN) Mary Landrieu, (D - LA) Arlen Specter, (R - PA)
      John Breaux, (D - LA) Blanche Lincoln, (D - AR) Robert Torricelli, (D - NJ)
      Max Cleland, (D - GA) Patty Murray, (D - WA) George Voinovich, (R - OH)
      James Jeffords, (R - VT) Charles Robb, (D - VA) Ron Wyden, (D - OR)
      Robert Kerrey, (D - NE) Olympia Snowe, (R - ME)  

      If your Senator(s) is on this list, please contact him or her by phone or fax urging support of H.R. 8.

    • Agriculture Appropriations-Still Locked in Controversy
      It is now apparent that this bill will not be voted on by the House of Representatives until after July 10. The Senate must wait for the House to finish wrestling with the politics of softening (or, depending on how you look at it, strengthening) of sanctions on Cuba, which were to be included in the 2001 Agriculture Appropriations bill. A joint letter from AVA, WI, and CAWG has been prepared requesting that the conferees approve the House position providing for a $2 million special grant for Pierce's Disease research (the Senate does not have a special grant), the House position calling for $1.1 million for ARS research on Pierce's Disease (PD) (vs. $700,000 in Senate) and the Senate language on possible compensation for grower losses resulting from PD. We are assuming that the increase in funding for the Viticulture Consortium, from $1 million in FY 2000 to $1.5 million in FY 2001 will be accepted because it is in both bills, but is does not hurt to emphasize the Consortium's importance. Please contact members, especially those on Ag. Appropriations Subcommittees for support of these four items. Members include:

      Senators:
      Ted Stevens, (R - AK), Chairman of the Committee Thad Cochran, (R - MS), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee
      Kit Bond, (R - MO) Conrad Burns, (R - MT)
      Byron Dorgan, (D - ND) Richard Durbin, (D - IL)
      Dianne Feinstein, (D - CA) Slade Gorton, (R - WA)
      Tom Harkin, (D - IA) Herb Kohl, (D - WI)
      Mitch McConnell, (R - KY) Arlen Specter, (R - PA)
      House Members
      Bill Young (R-FL), Chairman of the Committee Joe Skeen, (R-N.M)., Chairman of the Subcommittee
      Henry Bonilla, (R-TX) Allen Boyd, (D-FL)
      Rosa DeLauro, (D-CT) Jay Dickey, (R-AR)
      Jo Ann Emerson, (R-MO) Sam Farr, (D-CA)
      Maurice D. Hinchey, (D-NY) Marcy Kaptur, (D-OH)
      Jack Kingston, (R-GA) Tom Latham, (R-IA)
      George Nethercutt, Jr., (R-WA) James T. Walsh, (R-NY)

    • Vice President Gore & Agriculture Secretary Glickman declare Pierce's Disease Emergency in California
      Prompted by a request from California Governor Gray Davis, the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared an agricultural emergency in California to control and eradicate the glassy-winged sharpshooter. $422.3 million in special funds not directly appropriated by Congress has been allocated for the first year of this effort. About $17 million will pay for department operations and $5 million will go towards research on biological control, sterile insect technique, pathogens, repellants, conferring plant resistance and bacterial antagonists. The press release can be accessed at the following Internet address: http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OVP/index.html

    • ARS Grape Breeding Position in Geneva to be Re-advertised
      A poor response to the first job availability advertisement will lead to a new announcement of availability.

  • INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

    • WTO Agriculture Negotiations Resume
      USDA Secretary Glickman and USTR Ambassador Barshevsky held a briefing in Washington, D.C. June 29th on the new U.S. Proposal for WTO Agriculture Negotiations in Geneva. The proposal was described as an "ambitious framework", meaning the scope and details will be determined in the negotiation process. The proposal is aggressive in reducing tariffs, eliminating (rather than reducing) subsidies, establishing rules to ensure market access for products of new technologies, controlling export restrictions and actions of state trading enterprises, and simplifying rules on domestic support, including a new structure of controls of trade-distorting support that would apply equally to all countries. Congressional leaders at the briefing expressed strong bi-partisan support for the proposal. One stated, "There is remarkable harmony between Congress and Administration on this initiative." The WTO Agriculture negotiations process continues in Geneva through 2002.

  • HEALTH AND SOCIAL ISSUES

    • AWARE Launches New Website: http://www.alcohol-aware.com/
      A new wine-and-health web site offering news and analysis on moderate drinking was announced today by the American Wine Alliance for Research and Education (AWARE) and the American Vintners Association (AVA). The new site, www.Alcohol-Aware.com, was developed with the cooperation of Alcohol in Moderation (AIM), a beverage issues digest based in the United Kingdom. The web site will make the growing amount of independent research on the positive health outcomes from moderate consumption easily available to health professionals, the wine trade and consumers. The site will provide AWARE's historic files of research plus analysis of new developments. It is extensively referenced and includes a bibliography of hundreds of peer-reviewed articles from many of the world's leading medical journals. The information presented on the AWARE website is balanced and unbiased, presenting both the positive and negative health effects as well as those areas that are still clinically uncertain.

    • AWARE Files Comments on Health Statements with ATF
      The new AWARE website has been brought to the attention of ATF in an effort to refute the notion that consumers would be ill served if they are directed to consult their physician about the health effects of alcohol consumption. The argument for this notion, made during ATF's public hearings on the issue of directional health labeling for alcoholic beverages, is that physicians lack adequate training or access to information on the health effects of alcohol consumption. In written comments to ATF, AWARE Chairman John P. Juergens noted the new website is evidence that with open access to AWARE's website, designed specifically as a resource on this issue, physicians have the tools that make them the ideal persons for consumers to turn to for advice about the health effects of alcohol consumption.

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