April 11, 2013

2 Min Read
Obama Proposes Funding to Protect Plant and Animal Health

Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) said Wednesday that President Obama’s 2014 budget proposal got one thing right.

“The president’s budget got one thing right: a clear and renewed commitment for improved national security by protecting plant and animal health,” Roberts said. “I have been fighting, demanding and pleading with the administration, as have my congressional colleagues, to fulfill the pledge to build a much needed state-of-the-art National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). Kansas State University will house the facility, building on the research that is already being done there.

“The $714 million included in the budget Wednesday helps achieve this vital national security mandate that everyone from the Department of Homeland Security to the Department of Agriculture believes we must have to ensure we are protected from a threat to the nation’s plant or animal health.

“The real work to complete NBAF begins as we continue to fight to ensure this $714 million in funding is appropriated to advance construction of the NBAF in Manhattan and achieve this critical national security goal.

Beyond this commitment to finish work on NBAF, the president’s budget was more of the same.

“I am very disappointed that the budget once again includes a misguided proposal to increase taxes on the business aviation industry. Especially since elsewhere in the same document, the president calls for investment in high-tech and innovative manufacturing. Business aviation perfectly fits the profile of a manufacturing sector we, and the president, should take every effort to encourage – creating good paying, high technology jobs.

“This budget repeats the attacks on the oil and gas industry, calling for targeted tax hikes on an industry that provides thousands of jobs in Kansas. Singling out this industry, which is crucial to economic growth, and a source of reliable income for many Kansas families, is particularly short-sighted.

“His budget raises over a trillion dollars in taxes and contributes a mere $119 billion in deficit reduction over 10 years. This is not the right formula to grow jobs and create stability in the economy.”

 

 

Subscribe to Our Newsletters
National Hog Farmer is the source for hog production, management and market news

You May Also Like