Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague from South Dakota for yielding me time to speak today.

Iowa's farmers, ranchers, and producers know the value of a hard day's work. For years, they have endured challenges beyond their control. Even though I am a doctor, I know of no work more demanding than birthing calves in the middle of winter and helping them to survive.

Natural disasters such as fires, drought, and derechos have created significant market disruptions.

I was proud to be a cosponsor of Congressman Johnson's Cattle Contract Library Act to give cattlemen access to the most accurate data to make the best decisions possible for their families and their business in the face of these conditions and provide more transparency in the markets.

For months, I have been calling for increased transparency in our cattle markets to help both producers and consumers. I was proud to introduce the bipartisan Meat Packing Special Investigator Act to take on anticompetitive practices and give producers a fair shake and strictly enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act.

I was also proud to help introduce the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, which aims to return fairness to the cattle marketplace dominated by four major meatpackers.

It is crucial for Iowa's producers that there is fairness and transparency in our cattle industry. I thank Congressmen Johnson and Cuellar for their incredible work on this issue. I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this important legislation, H.R. 5609.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know that I can say it any better than the Members of Congress here who have so much firsthand experience with working ranches and farms. This is a beautiful bipartisan solution.

If you believe in the marketplace, then you understand the importance of price discovery, and you cannot have price discovery if you don't have transparency. This just provides additional leverage and additional tools to the hardworking, independent cow-calf operators and small feeders who have seen their position, their leverage, in the marketplace erode in recent years.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to enthusiastically support this promarket legislation. I look forward to the Senate expeditiously taking up this issue as well.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia.

First of all, I thank the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) for his dedication, hard work, and talent in putting forward this bill.

I believe that our ranchers, farmers, and those in the agriculture industry are looking at a great day for agriculture today to get these four important bills over to the Senate, where we will be working together on them.

Mr. Speaker, again, I thank Mr. Johnson, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source