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Former Congressman Questions Unintended Consequences of Legislation
April 10, 2008 - Former Congressman Charlie Stenholm, now a policy advisor with Olsson Frank Weeda, examined the unintended consequences of legislation, specifically for immigration, energy, and horse processing at the Animal Agriculture Alliance's (Alliance) seventh industry-wide Stakeholders Summit, held April 8 in Arlington, VA. He observed that ending horse slaughter in the USA took away valid options for horse owners to the detriment of both people and animals. Stenholm pointed out that some current proposals to “fix� the problem are more likely to result in increased problems.
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Former Congressman Charlie Stenholm examined the unintended consequences of legislation, specifically for immigration, energy, and horse processing at the seventh annual Stakeholders Summit.
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Drawing on his extensive tenure in the legislature, the former congressman pointed out the unintended consequence of well-intended “fixes� to problems. He explained that, in many cases, proposed solutions to issues often exacerbate current problems, citing immigration as an example. He emphasized that securing the borders is critical, but finding pragmatic answers should be more important than politically expedient reactions.
Switching to energy, Stenholm said, “We need all of the alternative energy we can produce in America today.� Stenholm did not restrict his comments to ethanol, expanding his scope to nuclear, wind and other energies that are facing opposition from various groups. Stenholm pointed out that with $110 per barrel oil driving corn and soybean prices higher, it has become more apparent that the previous subsidies that ostensibly supported grain prices, actually have been supporting American consumers. “Now those same folks that complained about subsidies are complaining about increased prices in the marketplace. But it is the marketplace that is driving those prices.�
“I am very happy you have put together the Animal Agriculture Alliance to educate people about some of these issues,� said Stenholm. “The additional costs that are unintentionally added to food from bad legislation have the potential to severely impact those in the lower 40% of income brackets. When that happens, it carries the potential to create a true revolution.�
The seventh annual Stakeholders Summit, themed Animal Welfare: Building Bridges Across the Food Chain, was held April 8-9, 2008 in Arlington, Virginia. It included about 140 mid- and high-level food chain participants from around the globe. Event sponsors were Vance Publishing's Food 360° Group, Cargill, Murphy-Brown, U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, Intervet, North American Nutrition Companies, Tyson Foods, American Veal Association, Bayer Animal Health, Hy-Line, Monsanto, PCS Sales, United Soybean Board, American Feed Industry Association, Animal Transport Association, Brakke Consulting, Feedstuffs, Poultry Times, National Pork Board, United Egg Producers, Watt Agribusiness Media, Agri Beef Company, CPM, and Global Animal Management.
The Animal Agriculture Alliance, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, is a broad-based coalition of individual producers, producer organizations, suppliers, packer-processors, private industry and retailers. The Alliance's mission is communicate the important role of animal agriculture to our nation's economy, productivity, vitality, security and that animal well-being is central to producing safe, high-quality, affordable food and other products essential to our daily lives.
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