[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 137 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 137

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
                  resumption of beef exports to Japan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 3, 2005

   Mr. Moran of Kansas (for himself, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Peterson of 
Minnesota, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Hayes, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Boehner, Mr. Pickering, 
 Mrs. Musgrave, Mr. Barrow, Mr. Graves, Mr. Osborne, Mr. King of Iowa, 
Mr. Terry, Mr. Rehberg, Mr. Hulshof, Mr. Walden of Oregon, Mr. Nussle, 
 Mr. Pence, Mrs. Cubin, Mr. Peterson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Everett, Mr. 
Shimkus, Mr. Miller of Florida, Mr. Putnam, Mr. Culberson, Mr. Jenkins, 
 Mr. Gutknecht, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Otter, Mr. Goode, Mr. Neugebauer, Ms. 
   Foxx, Mr. Scott of Georgia, Mr. Nunes, Mr. Rogers of Alabama, Mr. 
   Holden, Mr. Hastings of Washington, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. 
     Kennedy of Minnesota, Miss McMorris, Mr. McCaul of Texas, Mr. 
Westmoreland, Mr. Tiahrt, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Skelton, Mr. Kingston, Mr. 
Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Conaway, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Latham, Mr. Ross, Mr. 
 Berry, and Mr. Cole of Oklahoma) submitted the following resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
                  resumption of beef exports to Japan.

Whereas the livestock industry in the United States, including farmers, 
        ranchers, processors, and retailers, is a vital component of rural 
        communities and the entire United States economy;
Whereas United States producers take pride in delivering an abundant and safe 
        food supply to our Nation and to the world;
Whereas Japan has prohibited imports of beef from the United States since 
        December 2003, when a single case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy 
        (BSE) was found in a Canadian-born animal in Washington State;
Whereas the United States agriculture industry as a whole has been negatively 
        affected by the Japanese ban and the loss of a $1,700,000,000 export 
        market to Japan;
Whereas the United States has undertaken a rigorous and thorough surveillance 
        program and has exceeded internationally recognized standards of the 
        World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for BSE testing and has 
        implemented safeguards to protect human and animal health;
Whereas Japan is a member of the OIE and has agreed to such standards;
Whereas the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement of the World Trade 
        Organization (WTO) calls for WTO members to apply SPS measures only to 
        the extent necessary to protect human, animal, and plant health, based 
        on scientific principles;
Whereas the United States and Japan concluded an understanding on October 23, 
        2004, that established a process that would lead to the resumption of 
        imports of beef from the United States, yet such imports have not 
        resumed;
Whereas despite the best efforts of officials within the United States 
        Department of State, the United States Department of Agriculture, and 
        the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Government of 
        Japan continues to delay imports of beef from the United States on the 
        basis of factors not grounded in sound science and consumer safety;
Whereas the SPS Agreement does not provide to WTO members the right to 
        discriminate and restrict trade arbitrarily; and
Whereas Japan has been provided a reasonable timeframe to establish appropriate 
        trade requirements and resume beef trade with the United States, and the 
        Government of Japan is putting a long and profound bilateral trading 
        history at risk: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
if the Government of Japan continues to delay in meeting its 
obligations under the understanding reached with the United States on 
October 23, 2004, to resume beef imports from the United States, the 
United States Trade Representative should immediately impose 
retaliatory economic measures on Japan.
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