[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 232 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 232

To express the sense of the Senate that the European Union should waive 
the penalty for failure to use restitution subsidies for barley to the 
 United States and ensure that restitution or other subsidies are not 
used for similar sales in the United States and that the President, the 
 United States Trade Representative, and the Secretary of Agriculture 
     should conduct an investigation of and report on the sale and 
                               subsidies.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 19, 1998

 Mr. Dorgan (for himself, Mr. Kempthorne, Mr. Wyden, Mrs. Murray, Mr. 
  Johnson, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Craig, Mr. Burns, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Mr. 
 Conrad, Mr. Gorton, Mr. Daschle, Mr. Enzi, and Mr. Thomas) submitted 
   the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                                Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
To express the sense of the Senate that the European Union should waive 
the penalty for failure to use restitution subsidies for barley to the 
 United States and ensure that restitution or other subsidies are not 
used for similar sales in the United States and that the President, the 
 United States Trade Representative, and the Secretary of Agriculture 
     should conduct an investigation of and report on the sale and 
                               subsidies.

Whereas, in an unprecedented sale, the European Union entered into a contract 
        with a United States buyer to sell heavily subsidized European barley to 
        the United States;
Whereas the sale of almost 1,400,000 bushels (30,000 metric tons) of feed barley 
        was shipped from Finland to Stockton, California;
Whereas news of the sale depressed feed barley prices in the California feed 
        barley market;
Whereas, since the market sets national pricing patterns for both feed and 
        malting barley, the sale would mean enormous market losses for barley 
        producers throughout the United States, at a time when the United States 
        barley producers are already suffering from low prices;
Whereas the European restitution subsidies for this barley amounts to $1.11 per 
        bushel ($51 per metric ton);
Whereas the price-depressing effects of this one sale will continue to adversely 
        affect market prices for at least a 9-month period as this grain moves 
        through the United States marketing system;
Whereas this shipment is part of about 2.1 million metric tons of European feed 
        barley that have been approved for restitution subsidies by the European 
        Union this year;
Whereas the availability of the additional subsidized European barley in the 
        international market not only artificially depressed market prices, but 
        also threatens to open new import channels into the United States;
Whereas, as the world's largest feed grain producer and the world's largest 
        exporter of feed grains, the United States does not require imported 
        feed grains;
Whereas, at the same time that subsidized European barley is being imported into 
        the United States, some United States feed grains are prevented from 
        entering European markets under European Union food regulations;
Whereas United States barley growers continue to suffer the negative impacts of 
        the sale, regardless of whether the subsidized European barley was 
        originally targeted for sale into the United States and whether the 
        subsidies comply with the letter of current World Trade Organization 
        export subsidy rules; and
Whereas the sale not only undermines the intent and the spirit of free trade 
        agreements and negotiations, it also moves away from the goals of level 
        playing fields and fairness in trade relationships: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SENSE OF SENATE ON EXPORT OF EUROPEAN BARLEY TO THE UNITED 
              STATES.

    It is sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the European Union should--
                    (A) take immediate steps to waive the penalty for 
                failure to use restitution subsidies for barley 
                exported to the United States; and
                    (B) establish procedures to ensure that restitution 
                and other subsidies are not used for sales of 
                agricultural commodities to the United States or other 
                countries of North America;
            (2) the President of the United States, the United States 
        Trade Representative, and the Secretary of Agriculture should 
        immediately consult with the European Union regarding the sale 
        of European feed barley to the United States in order to avoid 
        any future sale of any European barley to the United States 
        that is based on restitution or other subsidies; and
            (3) not later than 60 days after approval of this 
        resolution, the United States Trade Representative and the 
        Secretary of Agriculture should report to Congress on--
                    (A) the terms and conditions of the sale of 
                European barley to the United States;
                    (B) the results of the consultations under 
                paragraph (2);
                    (C) other steps that are being taken or will be 
                taken to address to such situations in the future; and
                    (D) any additional authorities that may be 
                necessary to carry out subparagraphs (B) and (C).
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