Letter to Senators Robert Bennett and Herb Kohl

August 9, 2004

The Honorable Robert Bennett The Honorable Herb Kohl
Chairman Ranking Member
Committee on Appropriations Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural
Development and Related Agencies Development and Related Agencies
SD 188 SH 123
United States Senate United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Bennett and Ranking Member Kohl:

We write in support of the Market Access Program (MAP) of the United States Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. As you prepare the appropriations bill for FY 2005, we urge you to preserve the funding for this important program that aids the creation, expansion, and maintenance of foreign markets for U.S. agriculture.

MAP has been vital to the United States economy by helping keep U.S. products competitive in global agriculture and food markets. This program promotes American-grown and produced commodities by helping various agricultural sectors launch their commodities into new markets. Since this program originated in 1985, U.S. agricultural exports have more than doubled. The expanded access that MAP provides helps to support our farmers, who are the backbone of our rural economies. As we are certain you are aware, the benefits to farmers from the MAP program will be multiplied many-fold.
As a program designed to target small businesses, farmer cooperatives, and trade organizations, MAP has helped support the 850,000 American jobs dependent upon U.S. agricultural exports. For every $1 billion dollars spent on U.S. agricultural exports, as many as 15,000 new jobs are created in the United States.

The Market Access Program also helps level the playing field for our farmers by countering subsidized foreign competition.
For example, the European Union currently spends more than $2 billion annually on agricultural export subsidies, more than 20-times that spent by the United States. If these funds were eliminated or reduced, American farmers would suffer a substantial competitive disadvantage. Without the MAP support in New York, our fruit growers would be hardest hit by the reductions in market access for their products. Although the commodities may be different, the effect would be felt equally as strong across the country.

Last year the MAP program was fully funded at $125 million and was authorized to receive $140 million in Fiscal Year 2005. We request that you fully fund the authorized amount and reject the President's proposal to freeze the funding at last year's levels. Preserving the $140 million for MAP is an essential step in helping the United States' agricultural economy.

We hope that you will support funding levels that will enable the Market Access Program to continue to benefit from our farmers and the agricultural economy. Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

Hillary Rodham Clinton