Bipartisan cattle price transparency and discovery legislation so cattle feeders get a fair price for their beef
Advance cattle price transparency and discovery legislation so cattle feeders receive fair prices for beef.
Occurrences
Bipartisan cattle price transparency and discovery legislation so cattle feeders get a fair price for their beef
Bipartisan cattle price transparency and discovery legislation so cattle feeders get a fair price for their beef
if we don't get it passed our cattle feeders in the Midwest do not have a fair market because the four biggest meatpackers almost a monopoly control the market with the cozy relationship between the Texas and Kansas feedlots. So an independent producer in Iowa doesn’t get a chance to market their product.
Bipartisan cattle price transparency and discovery legislation so cattle feeders get a fair price for their beef
Bipartisan cattle price transparency and discovery legislation so cattle feeders get a fair price for their beef
Evidence
Reported Senate text listed Grassley among introducers and included approved pricing mechanisms, a cattle contract library, mandatory minimums, and packer penalties. Congress.gov showed the latest action as placement on the Senate Legislative Calendar and the bill status as Introduced.
Grassley's office said he participated in markup on the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, which he helped introduce, and that the bill advanced in committee with bipartisan support.
Congress.gov lists Sen. Grassley as an original cosponsor of S.228 on February 2, 2023. The same bill record shows the latest action was read twice and referred to the Senate Agriculture Committee, with status Introduced.
Section 779 appropriated $1,000,000 for a Cattle Contracts Library pilot program for AMS to develop and maintain within Livestock, Poultry, and Grain Market News.
USDA announced it launched the pilot Cattle Contracts Library, created under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, to increase market transparency for cattle producers and disclose contract terms, conditions, and volumes.
Section 779 appropriated $1,000,000 for a Cattle Contracts Library pilot program that USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service was to develop and maintain to increase market transparency for cattle producers.
Congress.gov shows the bill was reported to the Senate and placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders, but the bill status remained Introduced.
USDA said it published a Kansas State University assessment report on the Cattle Contracts Library pilot program, noted that public access began on January 31, 2023, and said it was reviewing findings and recommendations for fed-cattle market transparency.
Assessments
Grassley materially advanced the cattle price transparency effort and won a limited related policy result, but not the full promised outcome. He helped introduce and move the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act through Senate Agriculture Committee in 2022, yet it never became law. A narrower transparency measure did become law in the March 15, 2022 appropriations act through funding for the USDA Cattle Contracts Library pilot, which USDA launched on January 31, 2023. Because a meaningful transparency component was enacted during the term tied to the 2016 election, but the broader price-discovery legislation and fair-pricing framework were not fully delivered, the best judgment is partial credit in the same term.
Grassley materially advanced cattle market transparency and price discovery legislation by helping introduce the 2022 Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, participating in markup, and getting it through committee to the Senate calendar. He also joined the 2023 reintroduction. However, the broader promised legislation, including mandatory price discovery mechanisms, did not become law. A related cattle contracts library transparency component was enacted through the 2022 appropriations law and USDA launched the pilot in January 2023, which provides partial fulfillment of the transparency goal during the relevant federal term context but not full delivery of the promised broader legislation.
The broad Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act was not enacted: S.4030 advanced out of Senate Agriculture in 2022 but did not become law, and S.228 in the 118th Congress was only referred to committee on February 2, 2023 and remained introduced. A meaningful transparency component was delivered when Public Law 117-103 authorized a Cattle Contracts Library pilot and USDA launched it on January 31, 2023 to disclose contract terms and volumes. Because the permanent broader price-discovery bill, regional mandatory minimums, and fair-price outcome were not delivered, this is partial rather than delivered.