[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1651 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1651

To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to require the Secretary of 
  Agriculture to take certain actions if the European Union does not 
    reduce and subsequently eliminate agricultural export subsidies.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 28, 1999

Mr. Baucus (for himself, Mr. Gorton, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Craig, and Mrs. 
    Murray) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to require the Secretary of 
  Agriculture to take certain actions if the European Union does not 
    reduce and subsequently eliminate agricultural export subsidies.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Agricultural Trade Fairness Act of 
1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) United States agricultural producers are facing 
        financial ruin due to unanticipated declines in prices for 
        agricultural commodities;
            (2) foreign export subsidies of agricultural commodities 
        depress prices further and prevent access to export markets by 
        United States agricultural producers;
            (3) the European Union, the entity that provides by far the 
        largest agricultural export subsidies, provides 84 percent of 
        the agricultural export subsidies provided in the world;
            (4) the export enhancement program carried out by the 
        United States under section 301 of the Agricultural Trade Act 
        of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5651) is authorized to be funded at over 
        $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1998 through 2000 
        (consistent with the Uruguay Round reduction commitments), but 
        has been funded at well below the authorized levels; and
            (5) the European Union continues to use agricultural export 
        subsidies to bridge the gap between high domestic support 
        prices and lower world prices, resulting in extreme market 
        distortions.

SEC. 3. RESPONSE TO UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES BY EUROPEAN UNION.

    Title III of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5651 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 304. RESPONSE TO UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES BY EUROPEAN UNION.

    ``(a) Reduction of Agricultural Export Subsidies.--
            ``(1) In general.--If by January 1, 2002, the European 
        Union does not reduce agricultural export subsidies by at least 
        50 percent of the level of agricultural export subsidies 
        provided as of October 1, 1999 (as determined by the 
        Secretary), the Secretary shall take appropriate measures to 
        protect the interests of producers of United States 
        agricultural commodities and ensure the international 
        competitiveness of United States agriculture.
            ``(2) Measures.--In carrying out paragraph (1), the 
        Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable--
                    ``(A) target the European Union's most sensitive 
                export markets for feed grains; and
                    ``(B) make available to carry out the export 
                enhancement program under section 301(e)(1) not more 
                than $1,000,000,000 to encourage the commercial sale of 
                United States agricultural commodities in the chief 
                export markets of the European Union.
    ``(b) Elimination of Agricultural Export Subsidies.--
            ``(1) In general.--If by January 1, 2003, the European 
        Union and the United States do not enter into an agricultural 
        trade agreement under which the European Union agrees to 
        eliminate agricultural export subsidies (as determined by the 
        Secretary), the Secretary shall take appropriate measures to 
        protect the interests of producers of United States 
        agricultural commodities and ensure the international 
        competitiveness of United States agriculture.
            ``(2) Measures.--In carrying out paragraph (1), the 
        Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable--
                    ``(A) target the European Union's most sensitive 
                export markets for feed grains;
                    ``(B) make available to carry out the export 
                enhancement program under section 301(e)(1) not more 
                than $2,000,000,000 to encourage the commercial sale of 
                United States agricultural commodities in the chief 
                export markets of the European Union;
                    ``(C) increase the amount of funds made available 
                to carry out direct credit programs and export credit 
                guarantee programs under subsections (a) and (b) of 
                section 211 to promote the commercial export sale of 
                United States agricultural commodities in the chief 
                export markets of the European Union; and
                    ``(D) increase the amount of funds made available 
                to carry out the market access program under section 
                211(c)(1) to encourage the development, maintenance, 
                and expansion of commercial export markets for United 
                States agricultural commodities in the chief export 
                markets of the European Union.''.
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