Washington, D.C. – Committee on Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX) today commented on the poultry language in the final conference agreement for the 2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill:

Congressman Dave Camp stated, “Today’s announcement shows we can keep our food supply safe without unnecessarily inviting trade retaliation that hurts American farmers.  I commend all of the conferees for their hard work and timely resolution of this matter.”   

Congressman Kevin Brady stated, “With today’s announcement, China no longer has an excuse to limit entry of U.S. chicken.  House action this summer to ban poultry imports from China was unnecessary because we don’t import any chicken from China, and instead it provoked China to retaliate against our poultry.  China had been our second largest export market, buying more than $700 million in poultry products, and I look forward to resumption of full trade immediately.  The agreement also creates the right atmosphere in which to resume discussions with China with the aim of removing China’s unjustified, non-science-based barriers on other agriculture products, including U.S. exports of pork and beef.”

This summer, Congressmen Camp, Brady, and Kingston sent a letter to their colleagues, alerting them to the problematic provision in the House bill. Click here to read the letter.  

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