The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry has moved the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022 and the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2022 to the Senate floor for a full vote.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chairwoman of the committee, urged her colleagues to pass the bills and thanked them for their leadership on these issues, stating the bills will “make progress toward a more competitive, transparent and fair supply chain that is better for American producers.”
Ranking Member Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) said the bills were “born out of frustration.” Boozman was concerned about whether the bills were solutions to the problems and if they would have unintended consequences. Boozman expressed that the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act will burden small processors, while large packers have the means to comply with the law. Boozman said USDA already has a Packers and Stockyards Division; if funding is an issue, the committee should address that, he said.
Boozman went on to say he thinks “the industry, our ranch families and our rural communities will all suffer if we insert the federal government into day-to-day business decisions.”
The committee unanimously passed the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022 after Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) offered an amendment to make the special investigator a senior USDA employee and direct the special investigator to coordinate with USDA’s Office of the General Counsel and the attorney general regarding enforcement actions.
There was debate about the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, with senators expressing that their constituents were split for and against the bill. Two amendments were initially proposed for the bill but were not introduced.
Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) were to introduce an amendment to strike the market mandate for fed cattle, but Marshall said he would present the amendment on the Senate floor. Marshall said he agrees with the Kansas Farm Bureau and Kansas Livestock Association that the mandates will harm feedlots and producers with lower cattle prices and give packers leverage.
Marshall suggested the industry provide more accurate labeling, as Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and John Thune (R-SD) discussed. Both senators proposed amendments regarding mandatory country-of-origin (MCOOL) labeling but did not introduce them.
Thune said, “When you’re talking about transparency, when you’re talking about pricing in cattle markets, there probably isn’t anything that matters more to producers around this country than being able to differentiate their product from other products that are imported from other places around the world.”
Thune said the bill he introduced would make MCOOL compliant with the World Trade Organization, saying he is tired of “kowtowing” to the organization.
Booker said the USDA loophole on labeling is “egregious” in that beef from Brazil is being slaughtered by companies there and repackaged in the U.S. as a “product of the USA.”
The committee did pass an amendment by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) that implements a recommendation by USDA to realign the mandatory reporting regions. According to Bennet, the amendment would “allow more granular data about things like price reporting” in Colorado and benefit other states.
Bennet said it is not a silver bullet, but it will provide more transparency and is a step in the right direction. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) went on record supporting the amendment, stating Colorado is in a unique position concerning confidentiality and the amendment addresses the issue.
Reactions
Just as the senators’ constituents are divided on the bills, so are the industry associations.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) opposed the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, stating it would severely restrict the use of alternative marketing arrangements and that market conditions have improved since COVID-19 without government intervention.
“The U.S. cattle industry is home to one of the most complex sets of markets in the world. Rather than embrace the freedom of that marketing system, Congress is instituting a one-size-fits-all policy that will hurt cattle producers’ livelihoods,” said NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane.
“Cattle markets are finally returning to normal after pandemic-fueled uncertainty, but these heavy-handed mandates will stifle innovation and limit marketing opportunities.”
Both NCBA and the North American Meat Institute opposed the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act, stating the legislation is “duplicative and only creates additional bureaucracy” and is “likely to have far-reaching unintended adverse consequences.”
The United States Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) applauded the senators for moving forward with the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, stating the bill is one of the “much-needed solutions” to consolidation in the industry.
“When producers don’t have the ability to negotiate a fair price for their cattle based on current market conditions, it results in a vertically integrated, corporate-controlled beef supply chain. This threatens the livelihoods of producers and the security of our national food system,” USCA President Brooke Miller said in a statement.
USCA urged the full Senate to pass the bills, as a vote against the measures is “a vote for the status quo.” — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
