Contact Congress

Commit to Working One-on-One With Each of 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. 

How to Call & Email Your U.S. Senators and Representative:

• Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your member by name.
• Locate your Senators’ contact information here – search by state and click link to email.
• Locate your Representative’s contact information here – search by zipcode and click on envelope icon to email.
• Find your Senators’ and Representative’s nearest state office phone numbers here – search by zipcode.

Inform your members of Congress or their staff that you are an independent business man or woman that raises cattle, 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.

Here’s What To Do:

For Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (M-COOL):

• Ask Congress to sponsor new legislation to fully restore Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (M-COOL) for beef. 

Ask them to review R-CALF USA’s paper ‘Restoring Mandatory COOL for Beef While Mindful of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Adverse Ruling’ available here. Let the R-CALF USA office know if one or both of your Senators and/or Representative says they will sponsor new legislation to restore M-COOL for beef. If they say they support a Voluntary COOL program such as the U.S. Beef Integrity Act – Ask them to review R-CALF USA’s ‘Recent History of Failed Voluntary COOL Programs’ available here.

For Beef Checkoff Reform:

• Ask your Senators to cosponsor S. 935 and your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 5563.

Both S. 935 and H.R. 5563 prevent USDA checkoff programs from 1) paying organizations that lobby on agricultural issues 2) prohibit anticompetitive behavior 3) ban activity that involves a conflict of interest 4) require audits to ensure compliance. A full copy of the H.R. 5563 Opportunities for Fairness in Farm Act of 2020 is available here and S. 935 is available here. 

• Ask your Senators to cosponsor S. 934 and your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 5699.

Both S. 934 and H.R. 5699 would prohibit mandatory or compulsory checkoff programs. A full copy of the H.R. 5699 Voluntary Checkoff Program Participation Act is available here and S. 934 is available here. 

For Increasing Domestic Marketing Outlets for Cattle (the PRIME Act and Interstate Meat Shipment):

• Ask your Senators to cosponsor S. 1620 and your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 2859.

Both S. 1620 and H.R. 2859 repeal the ban on the sale of meat from custom slaughterhouses, returning control to the states to permit producers to sell meat processed at a custom slaughter-house within the state. A full copy of the H.R. 2859 the PRIME Act or Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption is available here and S. 1620 is available here.

• Ask your Senators to cosponsor S. 1720 and your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 7162.

S. 1720 and H.R. 7162 would allow meatpacking plants inspected by state jurisdiction to sell meat in interstate commerce. A full copy of H.R. 7162 Expanding Markets for State-Inspected Meat Processors Act of 2020 is available here. A full copy of S. 1720 New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act of 2019 is available here, S. 1720 is similar to H.R. 7162 but includes poultry. 

 Submit Comments

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