Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021

Floor Speech

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota.

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5609, the Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021.

As I am sure many of my colleagues have heard from their constituents back home, the differences between prices paid to producers for their live cattle, and those paid by consumers at the meat counter, have led to spirited debate about the transparency of the cattle markets in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A variety of hearings on the matter have amplified those concerns. These hearings and other related oversight have also made very clear the differing opinions on if and how they should be addressed legislatively.

There is a small, but vocal, faction in support of government mandates dictating thresholds of cattle to be purchased on the spot market. Frankly, such a proposal lacks broad industry support and, in my opinion, needs further review to ensure it would actually achieve its intended goals.

In fact, on two occasions now during this Congress, the House Agriculture Committee has heard from diverse groups of respected economists and industry stakeholders about the potential costs and unintended consequences of this sort of government intervention in the marketplace.

Giving these complex and compelling interests, I am thankful for Congressman Dusty Johnson's leadership in pursuit of what I view as a pragmatic middle ground with a broad cross-section of industry support.

If true market transparency is the goal, it seems to make sense that a cattle contract library could serve as part of the solution. The library would serve as a clearinghouse of information regarding the various contract provisions being utilized in a variety of marketing arrangements. Hopefully, access to this information would provide producers and feeders more insight into market transactions and ultimately give them more leverage in negotiating better terms for the sale of their cattle.

It may not be a silver bullet to all that ails the industry, but I certainly think H.R. 5609 marks a commonsense step in the right direction.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to join me in support of this carefully crafted bill.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota.

Mr. Speaker, let's be honest. It has been a pretty difficult few years to be a cattle producer. People in that business understand the cyclical nature of prices, so that is not so much their beef, if you will.

But in that environment, it is much more difficult to have black swan event after black swan event hit these hardworking men and women. From the Holcomb fire to COVID-19 disruptions, it has been an incredibly volatile marketplace. They are trying to make a living and they are trying to pay their bills in that kind of environment with less price transparency than they have ever had.

Now, it used to be relatively easy. Of course, I think we all know that price discovery is a critically important part of any fully functional marketplace. It used to be easy. You just went down to the sale barn, you sat in the seats, and you were able to see exactly what Mr. Mann was selling his cattle for and exactly what Mrs. Hartzler was buying them for.

But as we have seen a migration of sales away from the sale barn and to alternative marketing agreements, that has left our producers less prepared to understand what is going on in the marketplace.

That is why I was so grateful to see a broad cross-section of stakeholders come together in Phoenix a few months ago. They said: Gosh darn it, we are tired of having the livestock industry fight amongst each other. Let's settle on what we can agree on, things that we can actually get done in the 117th Congress.

Mr. Speaker, they came out of that meeting with a clear clarion call for what Congress can do to help. There were three majors items, but the cattle library, along with the bill we just passed, the Livestock Mandatory Reporting program, were the heart of one of the three recommendations.

What this bill does is takes the information, basic nonconfidential information, from those alternative marketing agreements and makes it available, and it makes sure that there is a mechanism for that information to be put into resources that can actually be used by the independent cattle producers and the small feeders that are so critically important to this marketplace.

This has been widely bipartisan, and this is embraced by a fantastic cross-section, from the U.S. cattlemen to NCBA to Farm Bureau to National Farmers Union to the Livestock Marketing Association, good people who have come together and understand that while this does not solve the problem, it is a critically important step in moving us in the right direction.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota.

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