2021 Cattle Legislative Plan

Action Step: Everyone Must Commit To Making Calls To Your U.S. Senators and Representative 

Call each of them by phone, follow-up with an e-mail, and contact your members’ nearest state offices on a regular basis until these initiatives are complete as Congress is being constantly pressured by powerful opposition that wants Congress to vote against you.

Let them know that these initiatives are needed despite what other groups have told them, and that these issues are just too important for them not to give their full and immediate support.

Follow up with weekly calls until your member of Congress commits to support the legislation below and if they express interest or would like follow-up information, ask to schedule a meeting with the Ag staffer, yourself and R-CALF USA (let the R-CALF USA office know at 406-252-2516).

Contact Your U.S. Senators and Representative:

• Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senators and Representative by name.
• Locate your U.S. Senators’ email information here – search by state and click ‘contact’ link to email.
• Locate your U.S. Representative’s email information here – search by zipcode and click on envelope icon to email.
• Find your State and Local Elected Officials’ contact here and ask them to also contact their U.S. Senators and Representative. 

Here’s What to Say:

I am a (cattle producer or consumer) from (your City and State) and I need Senator (Senator’s last name) or Representative (Representative’s last name) to…(Read from information provided below bill title, original bill sponsor(s), and bill summaries).

PRIMARY FOCUS LEGISLATION:

Ask each of your Senators and your Representative: To sponsor Sen. Thune (R-S.D.), Tester (D-Mont.), Rounds (R-S.D.), and Booker’s (D-N.J.) “American Beef Labeling Act of 2021” Senate Bill 2716 (S. 2716) that reinstates Mandatory Country-of-Labeling (M-COOL) for beef and requires beef to be labeled as to where it was born, raised, and harvested.

A full copy of the American Beef Labeling Act S. 2716 is available here. 

Ask your Senators: To cosponsor Sen. Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Tester’s (D-MT) bill S.949 ‘New Spot Market Protection Bill’ – To foster efficient markets and increase competition and transparency among packers that purchase livestock from producers [2021]. It requires beef packers with more than 1 plant to purchase at least 50% of their cattle in the competitive cash market each day for each plant and requires those cattle to be harvested within 14 days of purchase. Ask your Representative: To cosponsor Rep. Cynthia Axne’s related bill H.R. 7501.

A full copy of the New 50/14 Spot Market Protection Bill S.949 is available here for more information and fact sheets see here. A full copy of H.R. 7501 is available here.

SECONDARY LEGISLATION:

• Ask your Representative: To cosponsor Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) bill H.R. 1998 – Expanding Markets for State-Inspected Meat Processors Act of 2021. The act allows meatpacking plants inspected by state jurisdictions to sell meat in interstate commerce. Ask your Senators: To cosponsor Sen. Mike Rounds’ (R-SD) similar bill S. 107 – New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act of 2021.

• Ask your Representative: To cosponsor Rep. Chellie Pingree’s (D-ME) bill H.R. 1258 – A bill to amend the Poultry Products Inspection Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act to support small and very small meat and poultry processing establishments, and for other purposes [2021]. The act will increase the federal share of costs for state inspection programs and Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) facilities to encourage more states to operate state inspection programs and participate in CIS. Ask your Senators: To cosponsor Sen. John Thune’s (R-D) related bill S. 370 – Strengthening Local Processing Act of 2021.

• Ask your Representative: To cosponsor Rep. Jason Smith’s (R-MO) bill H.R. 8717 – the FAIR Meat Packing Act or Feed America by Incentivizing Rural Meat Packing Act [2020]. The bill allows a 25% investment tax credit through 2025 and a refundable income tax credit for the startup and organizational expenditures of livestock processing facilities with fewer than 500 employees. Ask your Senators: To sponsor identical legislation.

• Ask your Representative: To cosponsor Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) bill H.R. 2859 – the PRIME Act or Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act [2019]. The PRIME Act repeals the federal ban on the sale of meat from custom slaughterhouses, returning control to the states to permit producers to sell meat processed at a custom slaughterhouse within the state. Ask your Senators: To cosponsor Sen. Angus King Jr.’s (I-ME) related bill S. 1620 – the PRIME Act [2019].

• Ask your Senators: To cosponsor Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) bill S. 1124 – A bill to require the establishment of a working group to evaluate the food safety threat posed by beef and poultry imported from Brazil, and for other purposes [2019]. The bill suspends imports of beef and poultry from Brazil until the working group submits its recommendations regarding whether or not the importation of beef and poultry should be permitted. Ask your Representative: To sponsor identical legislation.

• Ask your Representative: To cosponsor Representative Denver Riggleman’s (R-VA) bill H.R. 5699 – Voluntary Checkoff Program Participation Act [2020]. The bill would prohibit mandatory checkoff programs. Ask your Senators: To cosponsor Senator Mike Lee’s (R-UT) similar bill S. 934 – Voluntary Checkoff Program Participation Act [2019].

• Ask your Representative: To cosponsor Rep. Dina Titus’ (D-NV) bill H.R. 5563 – Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act of 2020. The bill prevents USDA checkoff programs from paying organizations that lobby on agricultural issues, prohibits anticompetitive behavior, bans activity that involves a conflict of interest, and requires audits to ensure compliance. Ask your Senators: To cosponsor Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) related bill S. 935 – Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act of 2019.

• Ask your Senators: To cosponsor Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-NJ) bill S. 1596 – Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2019. The bill would place a moratorium on certain acquisitions between large agricultural and retail-related businesses and establish a commission to report to Congress and the President on the nature and consequences of market concentration in the U.S. food and agricultural economy, and recommended legal and regulatory changes to address such market concentration. Ask your Representative: To cosponsor Senator Mark Pocan’s (D-WI) identical bill H.R. 2933 – Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2019.

Public Comments

R-CALF USA urges everyone to submit public comments. At this time, there are no public comments – please continue to check back.

Write a letter to the editor of any paper in the U.S.!  Links Newspapers in every state available here.

Page updated 3/24/2021.