Pakistan responded immediately by purchasing 300,000 tons of U.S. wheat under the USDA credit guarantee program. Methyl Bromide Fix Secured legislative language harmonizing the Clean Air Act with the Montreal Protocol. This, coupled with emergency exemption authority for soil fumigation, will provide our fruit and vegetable producers a tool critical for supplying the domestic market and maintaining foreign markets. Secured passage of legislation requiring states to use systems established with the Social Security Administration to make sure that persons in prison are not receiving food stamp benefits. This action was taken based on an investigation by the General Accounting Office that found that large numbers of persons in prison are receiving food stamps as if they were a part of family receiving benefits.
China represents an agriculture market that is vital to the success of U.S. farmers and ranchers.
The highway reauthorization bill extends the tax credits for ethanol through 2007. The bill gives benefits totaling 54 cents per gallon, making ethanol-blended fuels attractive to use and helping farmers. We passed legislation to require the States and the Federal government to cooperate in order to ensure that deceased individuals are purged from Food Stamp rolls. Eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in welfare programs allows us to protect the taxpayer and target resources to truly needy people.