For Immediate Release

By: R-CALF USA Marketing Director Jaiden Moreland

Contact: R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard

Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com

 

BILLINGS, Mont., March 11, 2024 – In late February, U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Jon Tester (D-MT) filed a joint resolution, S.J. Res. 62, under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), seeking to overturn the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) final rule allowing beef imports from Paraguay.

Paraguay has long been a country considered not free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), which is a highly contagious foreign animal disease affecting cattle, sheep, hogs, and cloven-footed wildlife. The United States eradicated FMD in 1929, and until recently, the U.S. maintained strict import controls to prevent the reintroduction of the disease into the United States. Controls included conducting risk analyses with on-site visits before proposing rules to allow high-risk beef into the United States.

On November 14, 2023, USDA finalized a rule allowing the importation of beef from Paraguay despite not conducting an on-site evaluation of Paraguay’s animal health and food safety infrastructure since 2014.

“Allowing Paraguayan beef imports constitutes an unnecessary and avoidable risk of introducing FMD into the United States, which would adversely affect America’s cattle producers and consumers,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.

He continued, “This was a rushed, last-minute decision made by USDA, placed on a fast track for approval despite nationwide opposition. It seems this is a political rule supported by the White House to achieve some geopolitical goal as it clearly bypassed APHIS’s scientific methodology for timely risk evaluations.”

On Friday, S.J. Res. 62 was discharged from its committee and is now on the floor of the Senate where it must receive a simple majority vote to pass. If passed, the CRA resolution would ensure that APHIS’s Paraguay rule shall have no force or effect, meaning Paraguayan beef will remain banned from importation into the United States. Bullard said the Senate could vote on the resolution later this week.

“We applaud Senators Rounds and Tester and their cosponsors for taking action to protect America’s ranchers and consumers and we urge the U.S. Senate to pass this important resolution,” Bullard concluded.

The joint resolution is cosponsored by: Sens. Rosen (D-NV), Moran (R-KS), Brown (D-OH), Cramer (R-ND), Lummis (R-WY), Cortez Masto (D-NV), Manchin (D-WV), Ricketts (R-NE), and Marshall (R-KS).

The resolution follows the two Senators’ bill (S. 3386) to suspend beef imports from Paraguay introduced in December 2023 and a similar joint resolution of disapproval in the House (H.J. Res. 115) introduced by Reps. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) and Yadira Caraveo (D-CO).

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Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) is the largest producer-only cattle trade association in the United States. 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 or call (406) 252-2516.