Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced an omnibus bill, the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act, to tackle inflation affecting consumers.
The bill addresses biofuels, creates a meat and poultry special investigator office within the USDA, opens loan programs to help new meat processors, creates a food supply chain task force and adjusts conservation programs to include precision agriculture.
Many of the bills passed out of the House Agriculture Committee on a bipartisan basis with a voice vote, except for the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act, which cleared the panel on a primarily party-line vote of 27-21. According to Politico, the inclusion of the investigator bill could make passage a partisan issue.
Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA-15) called the bill a “charade that does nothing to lower the food and fuel costs” in a statement. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association opposes the investigator bill.
Editor’s note: The U.S. House of Representatives passed the measure on a 221-204 vote and the bill moves to the U.S. Senate
