To: R-CALF USA Members and Affiliates
From: Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALF USA
Date: March 4, 2025
Subject: Getting MCOOL Cosponsors is a Priority
Background: Recently, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) reintroduced the bipartisan American Beef Labeling Act of 2025 (S.421) requiring mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef. So now it’s back to work and getting cosponsors is a priority so Congress can swiftly pass it or include it in the upcoming Farm Bill.
S.421 already has six cosponsors: Sens. Rounds (R-SD), Heinrich (D-NM), Lummis (R-WY), Fetterman (D-PA), Hoeven (R-ND) and Lujan (D-NM). If any of these are your senators, please thank them for their leadership in cosponsoring the American Beef Labeling Act as we will need them to champion this bill through its passage.
If any of your senators are newly elected, please call and inform them that mandatory country of origin labeling for beef is needed so U.S. consumers can distinguish beef from cattle born, raised, and slaughtered in the USA from the growing volume of cheaper, imported beef that is harming American ranchers because their domestic beef market lacks transparency.
New senators: Justice (R-WV), Schiff (D-CA), Slotkin (D-MI), Gallego (D-AZ), Blunt (D-DE), Moody (R-FL), Banks (R-IN), Alsobrooks (D-MD), Sheehy (R-MT), Kim (D-NJ), Husted (R-OH), Moreno (R-OH), McCormick (R-PA), and Curtis (R-UT).
Action: Please call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for each of your senators by name and urge them to cosponsor the American Beef Labeling Act, which will reinstate MCOOL for beef. They can call Senator Thune or Booker’s office to become a cosponsor.
Please continue making weekly calls and ask your friends, relatives, neighbors, and other acquaintances to help make calls until your senator agrees to support S. 421.
Targeted senators are listed below, please help generate as many calls as possible until these senators agree to support S.421.
Senators who have previously expressed or supported MCOOL for beef: Gillibrand (D-NY), Barrasso (R-WY), Durbin (D-IL), and Smith (D-MN).
Senators who have previously supported similar legislation: Baldwin (D-WI), Hawley (R-MO), Scott (R-FL), Sanders (D-VT), Warren (D-MA), Markey (D-MA), Merkley (D-OR), Wyden (D-OR), Schatz (D-HI), Blumenthal (D-CT), Cassidy (R-LA), Murkowski (R-AK) and Welch (D-VT).
Good Luck with your calls. We’ll be in touch.
Public service announcement: Due to increasing and sophisticated scams, R-CALF USA advises against sharing personal information such as social security number, bank account and routing numbers or credit-card details via email or phone. If you have any doubt, contact R-CALF USA at r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com or 406-252-2516.
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Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) is the largest producer-only lobbying and trade association representing U.S. cattle producers. It is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle and sheep industries. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com.