United States Grain Standards Act Reauthorization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAWFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership on
this and certainly want to thank the ranking member of the full
committee as well and my friend, the gentleman from Minnesota, who
serves as the ranking member on our subcommittee.
This is a great piece of bipartisan legislation. As has been noted
here, this is about 100 years since this has been signed into law, and
the grain trade has thrived over that century. GSA has supported its
evolution by providing a backbone of stability relied upon by
exporters, shippers, farmers, and, of course, consumers.
With the farm economy and so many of our constituents relying on the
ability of grain and oilseeds to get to market, it is critical that we
act to provide stability for the grain trade, like we are doing here
today.

This legislation accomplishes that goal in the following two ways.
Many of the provisions in current law are set to expire on September 30
of this year. A lapse in that authorization would disrupt the current
grain inspections process; therefore, Congress should not delay in
passing its reauthorization. The House is getting its job done well
ahead of schedule by considering this bill today, and I hope my
colleagues in the Senate will act soon as well.
Secondly, this legislation provides stability by ensuring we can
avoid disruptions like that which took place last year in Washington
State, which was alluded to earlier by the chairman. Last summer, the
Washington State Department of Agriculture discontinued its export
inspections amid an ongoing labor dispute. Since labor disputes do
happen from time to time, this kind of situation was anticipated by our
predecessors, which is why current law provides a mechanism for USDA to
step in and provide inspection services in the event of a disruption.
However, the dispute devolved into a political situation in which the
Secretary of Agriculture declined to use his discretionary authority to
maintain inspections. While inspection services were eventually
restored, it is critical we avoid a repeat of that unfortunate
decision.

Fortunately, the Agriculture Committee arrived at a bipartisan
consensus and found a way to avoid any future disruptions to the grain
trade by giving the industry more control of its own destiny.
I urge support from my colleagues for this vital legislation. I thank
the committee for all of its hard work to move this bill forward.

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