Cramer: House Passes Repeal of Country of Origin Labeling Legislation

Press Release

Today, Congressman Kevin Cramer joined a majority of his colleagues to approve H.R. 2393, the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Amendments Act of 2015. The bill would repeal existing requirements for retailers of beef, pork, and chicken, at the final point of sale, to inform customers of the country of origin of those products. The legislation is needed after the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled for the fourth time the COOL law violates international trade obligations. Failure to repeal the COOL law may open up the United States to $3.6 billion in retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico.

"Today's vote should come as no surprise as the WTO's recent ruling left us with no other practical option than to repeal the Country of Origin Labeling law. If Congress failed to act our producers potentially faced billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs, a scenario where neither they or consumers win. The USDA's recently released study, as an obligation of last year's farm bill, clearly demonstrates COOL is an idea that really never resonated with consumers nor produced the economic benefits it promised. COOL proponents should remember H.R. 2393 does not prohibit ranchers, processors or grocery stores from proudly putting the USA label on American-raised beef voluntarily," said Cramer.

The USDA study found economic losses exceeded any small economic benefits which may have existed due to the 2009 labelling rule. USDA's comprehensive study estimated the 2009 COOL labelling rule would have resulted in net economic losses over a 10-year period totaling $8.07 billion for the beef industry and $1.31 billion for the pork industry. The USDA also estimated 10-year net consumer economic losses of $5.98 billion for beef and $1.79 billion for pork due to decreased retail availability and increased retail prices. A copy of the USDA COOL study can be found by clicking here.

"Many proponents of maintaining the COOL requirements claim our nation's food safety will be put risk with its repeal but nothing could be further from the truth. COOL has always been a marketing technique otherwise it would not be managed by USDA's Agriculture Marketing Services (AMS). Our nation's food safety is managed and regulated by a separate department at USDA and the repeal of COOL will have no impact on its operations. Our nation has the world's safest food supply now and we will continue to have the safest food supply after the repeal of COOL. It is time to move past this debate and focus on initiatives which open up more markets to our country's cattle industry" commented Cramer.

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