New beef bill in U.S.

Press, 17 January 1979, Page 3

New beef bill in U.S.

NZPA Washington A United States Senator, Mr Lloyd Bentsen, whose Beef Import Bill was vetoed last year, has reintroduced a modified version of the same bill that would increase Presidential authority to raise import quotas. President Carter vetoed the legislation on November 10, saying that the bill curbed his power to increase imports when domestic supplies were inadequate.

The timing of the veto — eight days after the Senate election — angered Texas Democrats and ranchers who had strongly backed Senator Bentsen’s original bill, which was passed 289-66 in the House of Representatives and by voice in the senate.

Senator Bentsen said that when domestic beef supplies were bountiful the President could raise the quotas only in a national emergency or natural disaster. However, the bill would allow the President to retain his existing authority when domestic supplies were short and the counter-cyclical formula was increasing imports. The bill would curtail the amount of foreign beef brought into the United States when domestic supplies were abundant, and increase imports when American production dwindled. The present Meat Import Act follows a pro-cyclical formula, allowing imports to increase in line with American production.