Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Ms. SPANBERGER. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise in support of my legislation, H.R. 7606, the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act.

Congress cannot shy away from addressing the urgent economic challenges that face our local communities and our entire country, and that challenge continues to be inflation. We know how rising prices, consolidation across industries, and supply chain challenges are impacting America's families, businesses, and seniors, and as lawmakers, our job is to listen to the people we represent and then respond with legislation that can help solve those problems.

Indeed, this package, the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act, is just that. It is a compilation of bills put together by lawmakers who are responding to their constituents. I have heard from the other side of the aisle that, in fact, it would have been nice if we came together in a bipartisan way. So I would note that my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle from Iowa, Arkansas, New York, Nebraska, Ohio, Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee--it feels like I am practicing State capitals with my fifth grader-- Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Florida, Wyoming, Virginia, Minnesota, each of these are individual Members of Congress from the Republican side of the aisle who are leading on this issue.

In fact, two of the bills in this package are led by our Republican colleagues, and I am proud that I have joined with Congressman Dusty Johnson in support of the bipartisan Butcher Block Act. I am proud to be his co-lead as he leads that important piece of legislation. It is a commonsense step toward allowing American processors the ability to expand their operations, launch a new business or just make sure they are keeping--

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Ms. SPANBERGER. Mr. Speaker, this is the first step towards lowering meat prices, but in addition to increasing processing capacity for American cattlemen and poultry producers, we need to go after anticompetitive practices in the meat industry.

That is why I am proud that this package also includes the bipartisan Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act. The bill would establish a special investigator at USDA to investigate violations of our existing antitrust laws that have been on the books for more than 100 years, and I thank Congresswoman Miller-Meeks for co-leading this effort.

This bill has broad bipartisan support and bicameral support. So I thank Senator Jon Tester, Senator Grassley, Republican; Senator John Thune, Republican; Senator Hoeven, Republican; and Senator Rounds, Republican, for joining with us in pushing this bill forward. It has support from the U.S. Cattlemen's Association, and this bill is responsive to the needs of the people I represent because the Virginia Cattlemen's Association supports this bill, as does the National Farmers Union.

Americans want lower meat prices both now and in the future. They want lower gas prices and to make biofuels accessible to more Americans. We have the opportunity to do that. I urge my colleagues to support this package.

I rise in support of my amendment to include the American Food Supply Chain Resiliency Act in H.R. 7606, the Lower Food and Fuel Cost Act. I thank Congressman Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio for his partnership on this bipartisan legislation.

Supply chain disruptions are impacting the operations of businesses in Virginia and across the country, leaving shelves empty and driving up prices for consumers. For crop and livestock producers, as well as agribusinesses, the current disruptions are a threat to their livelihoods and their ability to deliver high-quality products at an affordable price while still making ends meet.

Meanwhile, Americans are suffering from rising food prices at grocery stores, dollar stores, and restaurants. Rising inflation makes trips to the grocery store more and more stressful as the price of staple items like meat, eggs, and vegetables rise, sometimes going up monthly, even weekly.

Americans have shared the experience of going to the grocery store-- we all have--picking up our favorite food items that we have purchased for years and thinking, well, this is more expensive than last week. My husband and I were just talking about this issue over the weekend as we changed our own shopping list because of it.

Few products are more essential than the foods we eat. Farmers, particularly small- and medium-sized producers, have been left out of investments that are meant to mitigate supply chain challenges, and that has meant it is getting more difficult to get products from the farm to the market and, finally, to the table.

While big companies have the budget to invest in supply chain innovations, research, and experts, small- and medium-sized producers are paying higher prices than ever for fertilizer, fuel, shipping, and other input costs.

When farmers pay more to produce food, all Americans pay more at the grocery store. That is why we must empower USDA to do more to resolve farmers' and food businesses' supply chain challenges. We must be prepared.

To address these concerns, I was proud to lead the bipartisan American Food Supply Chain Resiliency Act. This legislation would establish supply chain regional resource centers through cooperative agreements with the Agricultural Marketing Service at USDA.

These resource centers would offer locally tailored coordination, technical assistance, and grants to small- and medium-sized producers and agribusinesses, leading to stronger supply chains. This bill would also expand the great work of the Agriculture Innovation Program to include research and support on supply chains.

By establishing supply chain regional resource centers, this bill would provide additional support to family farmers and food businesses trying to deliver their goods at a lower price for consumers. These centers would help local producers get through lean years, obtain the inputs they need, and address challenges related to transportation costs, labor, and high energy prices.

In fact, USDA has already taken similar steps to build collaboration across sectors of local and regional food supply chains through regional centers. Our bipartisan legislation would support and build on these centers, as well as make sure they are a wise, tailored investment with a clear mission and fair reporting requirements.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support our bipartisan bill. Once again, I thank Congressman Gonzalez for his partnership.

My colleague on the other side of the aisle mentioned that this bill will not provide immediate relief, and I concur. This bill is not meant to provide immediate relief. The amendment before us would plan for the future and would recognize that we face disruptions in our supply chain, and frequently, when we do, it is our farmers and producers who are impacted, particularly smaller and medium-sized producers like those in our districts.

This bill, this amendment to the larger bill, is an issue of planning for the future, recognizing disruptions that may come, and being able to proactively plan for such challenges.

It is unfortunate that the gentleman feels that they were left out of the process, but I am heartened that the scope of concern relates to the process and not the underlying amendment.

This amendment is about long-term planning. It is about ensuring that our smaller and medium-sized producers and agribusinesses have the technical assistance, the support, and the coordination that they will need to weather challenges in supply chain disruptions that may occur today, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years into the future.

There is no disagreement that across America's regions and across our commodities, our Nation's farmers and ranchers have gotten the short end of the stick, particularly when it comes to rising input costs as a result of supply chain bottlenecks and inflation.

The Lowering Food and Fuel Costs Act and this amendment take crucial, commonsense steps toward addressing these challenges, both now and into the future, planning for a future where we can be proactive, continually so, and ensure that small and targeted investments from USDA today can have impacts on small- and medium-sized producers' ability to get food to market and improve their bottom lines.

At the same time, these investments should also lead to lower food prices for Americans at the grocery store, convenience stores, and restaurants.

I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan amendment. I look forward to working with my colleague across the aisle to receive additional, very specific feedback on how we can make some of these provisions stronger, better with that input into the future.

Today, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the amendment in front of us and, ultimately, ``yes'' on the underlying bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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