Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted by the Dept of AG Relating to Risk Zones for Introduction of BSE

PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE RELATING TO RISK ZONES FOR INTRODUCTION OF BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY --

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, let me be very clear about this. I feel passionately about competition and concentration-based issues.

Last Congress I introduced the Packer Ban, the Transparency Act, which requires packers to purchase pigs and cattle for slaughter from the cash market daily, the 20-10 bill, which limits any packer which owns more than 20 million head of pigs to slaughtering less than 10 million vertically integrated pigs, and a bill to eliminate mandatory arbitration clauses from production contracts, similar to legislation we passed for car dealers.

I feel strongly that we need to empower producers through legislation based on leveling the playing field, but this resolution is not how we should accomplish that goal.

By supporting this resolution we are taking a protectionist position instead of encouraging free trade. We might delay the importation of 900,000 feeders, but ultimately we are potentially putting our entire export market at risk, including the Japanese market.

In the world we lead by example, and if our example is tied to the precautionary nature of this resolution, expect the world to potentially follow suit.

The decision by USDA to re-open the border has been construed as a ``rush to judgment''. That could not be further from the truth.

The truth of the matter is that we have an obligation to look at the science of the issue and if the science dictates, we should re-open the border. That is where we are today. If someone this morning can demonstrate to me that the science USDA has relied on is faulty, I would be the first person to say we should not move forward, but science must dictate our course, not political will.

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