For Immediate Release: March 24, 2021
Contact: R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard
Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com
Billings, Mont. – Today, U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), along with Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) reintroduced the bill requiring the largest of beef packers to purchase at least 50% of their cattle needs from the negotiated cash market and to slaughter those animals within 14 days.
The new bill is nearly identical to S.3693 that was first introduced by Grassley and Tester in May 2020, with the notable exception that the new bill requires at least 50% of the cattle purchases in the negotiated cash market to occur on a weekly rather than daily basis.
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard issued the following statement in response to the bill’s introduction.
“Congress must act swiftly to pass this important bill into law to preserve the integrity of the cattle industry’s most important price discovery market – the negotiated cash market for fed cattle.
“Though alternative solutions to the ever-thinning cash market have been offered, none will be as effective as this new bill; nor can any of the alternatives be implemented in time to reverse the catastrophic disconnect between cattle prices and beef prices that has persisted for the past six years.
“Congress must not wait any longer to enact this important legislation as the chronically depressed fed cattle prices cannot sustain the critical mass of independent cattle feeders necessary to sustain a robustly competitive market for America’s cow/calf producers, backgrounders and stockers.
“Cattle producers now need to rally around this legislation as it certain to be violently opposed by those seeking to maintain the perpetual imbalance of market power between the highly concentrated beef packers and widely dispersed independent cattle producers.
“R-CALF USA is preparing an information page on its website that will be available soon.”
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R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America) 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 industry. Visit www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516 for more information.
