Issue Position: Wine and Agriculture

Issue Position

As a life-long resident of California's wine country and the representative of the world's greatest wine region, it is a high honor to represent our district and its world-renowned wine community. Not only is our wine community important to thousands of families and businesses in our district, it is important to our national economy as well. The wine industry generates an estimated $162 billion to the U.S. economy every year and supports the equivalent of 1.1 million full-time jobs. I am working every day in Congress to strengthen our wine industry and the jobs it supports. The cultural and economic impact of our wine industry cannot be overstated.

That is why, upon arriving in Washington, I immediately set about creating a legislative organization to focus on the wine industry. I co-founded the bipartisan Congressional Wine Caucus in 1999. Today, this Caucus that I co-chair with Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr. (R-CA), brings together nearly 150 Senators and Representatives from across the country to educate and engage them in legislative and regulatory matters pertaining to the wine community.

Under my leadership, the Wine Caucus has held numerous policy briefings and receptions on Capitol Hill and has become involved in a wide variety of legislative issues -- all with the goal of promoting our country's incredibly vibrant wine industry from grape to glass. Some of the issues the Caucus has been working on in the 113th Congress include:
* Stopping increases to the excise tax on wine: I strongly oppose increasing the excise tax on wine because it would seriously undermine wineries' efforts to grow and strengthen their businesses. In order to pay increased excise taxes, wineries would have to take funds directly out of their capital for expansion, severely limiting industry growth. Additionally, following an excise tax increase, wineries would be likely to absorb the additional excise tax payment for at least several years until a new price point is established -- negatively affecting the industry's bottom line.
* Conserving and protecting vineyards and open spaces: I reintroduced the bipartisan Conservation Easement Incentive Act of 2013 (H.R. 2807), which would help farmers, ranchers, and other landowners conserve and protect valuable agricultural lands, including vineyards. By providing tax incentives to landowners who choose conservation, the bill would help preserve our nation's cherished farm lands and open spaces for future generations.
* Advocating for research and management funding: I have consistently advocated for important funding for innovative research on grape quality, pest and disease research and management, and solutions to production problems facing the U.S. viticulture industry. In particular, funding for Pierce's Disease and the Glassy-winged Sharpshooter is paramount to our wine industry, and I have vigorously fought to secure federal dollars to help combat these, as well as other threats.
* Combating European Grapevine Moth: The invasive European Grapevine Moth (EGVM) poses a serious threat to the California wine grape industry, but through aggressive control efforts the eradication of this pest is possible. The USDA contributed nearly $17 million in 2011 and $8 million in 2012 to eradicate the EGVM. Due to these efforts, the number of EGVM trapped last year in Napa County, the epicenter of the infestation, fell sharply to 75 moths. In order to reach the goal of eradication, and not lose the substantial progress that has been made in recent years, funding must be continued.
* Continuing the Specialty Crop Block Grant: This program provides annual grants to assist State Departments of Agriculture in enhancing the competitiveness of specialty crops such as winegrapes.
* Continuing the Specialty Crop Research Initiative: This initiative provides competitive grant funding to research institutions so they can improve specialty crop production and health. It has been especially important in figuring out how to combat winegrape pests and diseases.
* The Horticulture and Organics Title: This program helps all specialty crop farmers by funding important pest and disease control provisions including the Clean Plant Network. It also provides funding for Value-Added Producer Grants, which help producers create market opportunities. This is particularly useful to small and medium sized producers. Many wineries and wine associations have taken advantage of this program.
* Market Access Program (MAP): MAP helps domestic producers expand their export market. In California alone, The Wine Institute manages an export promotional program in over 20 countries, causing export sales to rise to nearly $1 billion. MAP is the primary funding source for this effort.

Agriculture

Our district supports a varied and economically beneficial farming and ranching industry. The folks who grow our crops, produce, and livestock work hard to have productive businesses despite uncertain economic times. I support a full five-year reauthorization of the Farm Bill that will provide a safety net for farmers and ranchers when their products are impacted by forces beyond their control, and continues to provide assistance to families in need to put food on their tables. A long term reauthorization of the Farm Bill should also include an emphasis on research, pest management, and trade assistance programs that are vital to specialty crop producers; and highlight the economic, water and air quality, as well as healthy food programs that support productive California agriculture.

Farm Bill

At the end of June 2013, the House of Representatives voted on the reauthorization of a Farm Bill which failed 195-234. I voted against this Farm Bill because it cut $20.5 billion dollars from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and hurt conservation. Now, the Congress must take action on another Farm Bill by September 30, 2013, or our farmers and ranchers will be faced with the uncertainty of expiring farm programs. Please know that I will work to ensure any future agreement contains principles that are important to our district, including:
* Strong conservation stewardship values -- Our ranchers and farmers should be encouraged to continue to conduct their businesses in a manner that also benefits the surrounding communities and environment.
* Specialty crops provisions -- I support the continuation of these provisions that recognize the unique needs of this industry.
* Local and organic farms -- There is a nationwide need to improve and expand domestic farmers' markets, community-supported agriculture, and other direct producer-to-consumer market opportunities.
* Pest and disease prevention and control -- Crops face threats from pests and diseases that can be reduced through vigilant research, monitoring, and treatment.
* Renewable energy and energy efficiency -- As with all areas of our government, we should continue to reward farming practices that utilize alternative energy sources and reduce consumption of oil and gas.
* Adequate SNAP funding - Our economy is recovering but there are still millions of people who rely on SNAP assistance to help them get back on their feet and drastic cuts to this program are unacceptable.

Conservation

I support strong conservation efforts in exchange for tax payer investments in crop insurance. It's important that American farmers have a strong and reliable safety net, and that's why American taxpayers invest heavily in crop insurance. But it's also important that farmers take steps to protect and conserve our wetlands and highly erodible lands for the benefit of everyone.

The bipartisan Crop Insurance Accountability Act (H.R. 2260) that I coauthored would re-link crop insurance subsidy assistance to basic conservation compliance measures to ensure that long-standing safeguards for our lands remain in place. This would provide a return on American taxpayer's investment in crop insurance by protecting some of our most sensitive areas.

Immigration

I am working to make sure we have a fair and practical approach to immigration reform that ensures our agricultural industry has an adequate, legal, and stable workforce. I do not support an enforcement-only approach. I believe an enforcement-only is unworkable for our district's grape growers and would only exacerbate current agricultural labor shortages.

Our agricultural workers and those who run our local farms deserve a workable solution to our broken immigration law. That's why I recently joined several of my House colleagues in calling on President Obama to recognize that if enforcement-only approaches were solely implemented without regard to workers and employers, it would risk the economic vitality of the entire American agricultural industry. This isn't right, and it isn't something we can afford.

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