WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today joined
Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) to announce new, bipartisan
legislation to address anticompetitive practices in the meat and poultry
industries that threaten the nation’s food supply and national security
following last week’s ransomware attack on JBS, the country’s largest meat
supplier.
“Increased consolidation
is driving concerns about competitive market access for Iowa livestock
producers,” Grassley said. “The recent cyberattack added
to existing vulnerabilities in our food supply chain, underscoring the
importance of protecting the livelihoods of our family farmers. Food security
is national security. This bill provides USDA with the necessary tools to beef
up enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act, increase coordination with
DOJ, FTC, and DHS and to foster a fair and functional marketplace for farmers
and consumers alike.”
“For years, unfair,
anticompetitive practices in the meat packing industry have hit Montana
ranchers where it hurts the most—in the wallet—and put our rural communities
and family agriculture way of life at risk.” Tester said. “On top of that, corporate consolidation is
a direct threat to our national security, because a single cyber attack that
threatens the very food we eat is proof that something must be done, and fast.
That’s why this bill is so important—it devotes the needed tools to USDA to
shore up our national security and address anticompetitive practices in the
industry that threaten Montana ranchers and consumers.”
“Congress knew in 1921
what we know today – anticompetitive behavior in the meat packing industry
hurts both consumers and producers,” Rounds said. “Unfortunately, packer concentration in the
beef industry is more consolidated today than it was when the Packers and
Stockyards Act was first signed into law 100 years ago. South Dakota cattle producers
are going broke, while consumers are paying an over-inflated premium for beef
at the grocery store. It’s long past time to address this problem. Our
legislation strengthens USDA’s ability to investigate harmful anticompetitive
behavior to apply the Packers and Stockyards Act as intended.”
The Senators’ bill, the Meat Packing Special
Investigator Act, would create the “Office of the Special Investigator for
Competition Matters” within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Packers
and Stockyards Division.
The new USDA special investigator will have
a team of investigators, with subpoena power, dedicated to preventing and
addressing anticompetitive practices in the meat and poultry industries and
enforcing our nation’s antitrust laws. They will coordinate and act in
consultation with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission
and create a new bridge between the USDA and the Department of Homeland
Security to protect the continuation of the food supply and increase our
national security. With a team of dedicated staff, the USDA will now have the
ability to investigate the tough issues facing producers and hold bad actors
accountable.
Tester and Grassley, both farmers, and Rounds, a
rancher, have led efforts to combat corporate consolidation and protect the
livelihood of family farmers and ranchers. All three recently joined a
bipartisan
group of colleagues in demanding the Department of Justice investigate
whether the control large meatpackers have over the beef processing market
violates U.S. antitrust laws and principles of fair competition.
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