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1 1 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. ___
1 2 BY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
1 3 (SUCCESSOR TO HSB 142)
1 4 A Concurrent Resolution requesting that the United
1 5 States Congress take all action required to preserve
1 6 free and private enterprise, prevent monopoly, and
1 7 protect consumers by immediately enacting legislation
1 8 to prohibit livestock packers from owning,
1 9 controlling, or feeding livestock to such an
1 10 extent that producers can no longer materially
1 11 participate in the management of their livestock
1 12 operations as provided in Senate Bill 27 introduced
1 13 by the Honorable Senator Charles E. Grassley and
1 14 cosponsored by the Honorable Senator Tom Harkin
1 15 and others.
1 16 WHEREAS, the production and processing of livestock
1 17 represent a key component of this nation's food
1 18 security, welfare, and prosperity by providing an
1 19 abundant supply of value-added products upon which
1 20 this nation depends; and
1 21 WHEREAS, the State of Iowa is a leading livestock-
1 22 producing state in the nation, which has ranked among
1 23 the top third of states in red meat production and
1 24 which has for generations been the principal pork-
1 25 producing state in the nation; and
1 26 WHEREAS, the State of Iowa, like many neighboring
1 27 Midwestern states, has a long-standing public policy
1 28 of preserving farming, farmland, free enterprise, and
1 29 open access to markets for its independent livestock
1 30 producers; and
2 1 WHEREAS, the independence and vitality of livestock
2 2 producers in this state and in other agricultural
2 3 states are facing increasing anticompetitive forces in
2 4 the meat packing industry, which forces are
2 5 accelerating consolidation among companies and are
2 6 resulting in a growing prevalence by these
2 7 consolidated companies to integrate all aspects of
2 8 livestock production under their control from the farm
2 9 and ranch to the consumer's table; and
2 10 WHEREAS, these consolidated companies in the meat
2 11 packing industry have virtually unlimited means to
2 12 challenge long-standing legislative barriers designed
2 13 to preserve competition in agriculture for all
2 14 producers and consumers against the self-serving
2 15 practices of some of these companies; and
2 16 WHEREAS, this challenge to state statutes, if not
2 17 restrained by federal legislative action, threatens to
2 18 impair the independence and ingenuity of this nation's
2 19 family farmers and ranchers, to eliminate the
2 20 opportunity to exercise entrepreneurial and risk-
2 21 taking decisions that are at the core of what it means
2 22 to be a family farmer or family rancher, and to
2 23 endanger the viability of communities in which they
2 24 live; and
2 25 WHEREAS, the Honorable Senator Charles E. Grassley
2 26 and the Honorable Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa have
2 27 long and distinguished records defending independent
2 28 farmers and ranchers, the economies of local
2 29 communities, and the welfare of consumers by leading
2 30 congressional efforts to prohibit companies in the
3 1 meat packing industry from owning, controlling, or
3 2 feeding livestock to such an extent that livestock
3 3 producers no longer have an opportunity to materially
3 4 participate in the management of their operations; and
3 5 WHEREAS, during debate on the federal farm bill in
3 6 2002, the United States Senate approved amendments
3 7 sponsored by Senators Grassley and Harkin together
3 8 with the honorable Senator Tim Johnson from South
3 9 Dakota to ban the vertical integration of the meat
3 10 packing industry; and
3 11 WHEREAS, since the conference committee that
3 12 considered the federal farm bill eliminated the
3 13 protections offered by these amendments, consolidated
3 14 companies in the meat packing industry are now in a
3 15 position to use their captive supplies of livestock to
3 16 limit access to markets, to manipulate prices paid to
3 17 independent farmers and ranchers and charged to
3 18 consumers, and to devastate this nation's traditional
3 19 system of open and free markets; NOW THEREFORE,
3 20 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, THE
3 21 SENATE CONCURRING, That the United States Congress is
3 22 urged to immediately enact Senate Bill 27, as
3 23 introduced by Senator Grassley and cosponsored by
3 24 Senator Harkin and others, which amends the federal
3 25 Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to prohibit livestock
3 26 packers from owning, controlling, or feeding livestock
3 27 to such an extent that livestock producers no longer
3 28 have the opportunity to materially participate in the
3 29 management of their operations; and
3 30 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this
4 1 resolution be sent by the Chief Clerk of the House of
4 2 Representatives to the Honorable Senator Charles E.
4 3 Grassley and the Honorable Senator Tom Harkin,
4 4 together with Iowa's congressional delegation in the
4 5 House of Representatives; and
4 6 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this
4 7 resolution be sent to the President of the Senate of
4 8 the United States; the Speaker of the House of
4 9 Representatives of the United States; the Chair of the
4 10 United States Senate Committee on Agriculture,
4 11 Nutrition, and Forestry; and the Chair of the United
4 12 States House of Representatives Committee on
4 13 Agriculture; and
4 14 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this
4 15 resolution be sent to the President of the United
4 16 States; the Secretary of Agriculture, United States
4 17 Department of Agriculture; and the Administrator of
4 18 the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards
4 19 Administration, United States Department of
4 20 Agriculture.
4 21 LSB 1749HV 80
4 22 da/sh/8
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