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PAG LIN
1 1 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. ___
1 2 BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE RESOLUTION
1 3 BY CHAIRPERSON BEHN)
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 including by immediately enacting
1 8 legislation to prohibit livestock packers from
1 9 owning, 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 by
1 13 the Honorable Senator Charles E. Grassley and
1 14 cosponsored by the Honorable Senator Tom Harkin and others.
1 15 WHEREAS, the production and processing of livestock
1 16 represent a key component of this nation's food security,
1 17 welfare, and prosperity by providing an abundant supply of
1 18 value-added products upon which this nation depends; and
1 19 WHEREAS, the State of Iowa is a leading livestock-producing
1 20 state in the nation, which has ranked among the top third of
1 21 states in red meat production and which has for generations
1 22 been the principal pork-producing state in the nation; and
1 23 WHEREAS, the State of Iowa, like many neighboring
1 24 Midwestern states, has a long-standing public policy of
1 25 preserving farming, farmland, free enterprise, and open access
1 26 to markets for its independent livestock producers; and
1 27 WHEREAS, the independence and vitality of livestock
1 28 producers in this state and in other agricultural states are
1 29 facing increasing anticompetitive forces in the meat packing
1 30 industry, which forces are accelerating consolidation among
1 31 companies and are resulting in a growing prevalence by these
1 32 consolidated companies to integrate all aspects of livestock
1 33 production under their control from the farm and ranch to the
1 34 consumer's table; and
1 35 WHEREAS, these consolidated companies in the meat packing
2 1 industry have virtually unlimited means to challenge long-
2 2 standing legislative barriers designed to preserve competition
2 3 in agriculture for all producers and consumers against the
2 4 self-serving practices of some of these companies; and
2 5 WHEREAS, this challenge to state statutes, if not
2 6 restrained by federal legislative action, threatens to impair
2 7 the independence and ingenuity of this nation's family farmers
2 8 and ranchers, to eliminate the opportunity to exercise
2 9 entrepreneurial and risk-taking decisions that are at the core
2 10 of what it means to be a family farmer or family rancher, and
2 11 to endanger the viability of communities in which they live;
2 12 and
2 13 WHEREAS, the Honorable Senator Charles E. Grassley and the
2 14 Honorable Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa have long and
2 15 distinguished records defending independent farmers and
2 16 ranchers, the economies of local communities, and the welfare
2 17 of consumers by leading congressional efforts to prohibit
2 18 companies in the meat packing industry from owning,
2 19 controlling, or feeding livestock to such an extent that
2 20 livestock producers no longer have an opportunity to
2 21 materially participate in the management of their operations;
2 22 and
2 23 WHEREAS, during debate on the federal farm bill in 2002,
2 24 the United States Senate approved amendments sponsored by
2 25 Senators Grassley and Harkin together with the honorable
2 26 Senator Tim Johnson from South Dakota to ban the vertical
2 27 integration of the meat packing industry; and
2 28 WHEREAS, since the conference committee that considered the
2 29 federal farm bill eliminated the protections offered by these
2 30 amendments, consolidated companies in the meat packing
2 31 industry are now in a position to use their captive supplies
2 32 of livestock to limit access to markets, to manipulate prices
2 33 paid to independent farmers and ranchers and charged to
2 34 consumers, and to devastate this nation's traditional system
2 35 of open and free markets; NOW THEREFORE,
3 1 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
3 2 CONCURRING, That the United States Congress is urged to
3 3 immediately enact Senate Bill 27, as introduced by Senator
3 4 Grassley and cosponsored by Senator Harkin and others, which
3 5 amends the federal Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to
3 6 prohibit livestock packers from owning, controlling, or
3 7 feeding livestock to such an extent that livestock producers
3 8 no longer have the opportunity to materially participate in
3 9 the management of their operations; and
3 10 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be
3 11 sent by the Secretary of the Senate to the Honorable Senator
3 12 Charles E. Grassley and the Honorable Senator Tom Harkin,
3 13 together with Iowa's congressional delegation in the House of
3 14 Representatives; and
3 15 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be
3 16 sent to the President of the Senate of the United States; the
3 17 Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States;
3 18 the Chair of the United States Senate Committee on
3 19 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; and the Chair of the
3 20 United States House of Representatives Committee on
3 21 Agriculture; and
3 22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be
3 23 sent to the President of the United States; the Secretary of
3 24 Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture; and the
3 25 Administrator of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards
3 26 Administration, United States Department of Agriculture.
3 27 LSB 1749SC 80
3 28 da/sh/8.2
Text: SSB01064 Text: SSB01066 Text: SSB01000 - SSB01099 Text: SSB Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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