[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 14 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 14

 Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the actions needed to 
    address the disastrous decline in hog prices for American pork 
  producers and to relieve the widespread economic hardship currently 
                   being suffered by these producers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 19, 1999

    Ms. Kaptur (for herself and Mr. Latham) submitted the following 
     concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                              Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the actions needed to 
    address the disastrous decline in hog prices for American pork 
  producers and to relieve the widespread economic hardship currently 
                   being suffered by these producers.

Whereas the price of live hogs in United States markets had declined by 72 
        percent since July 1997;
Whereas on December 14, 1998, the price of live hogs dipped below $10 per 
        hundredweight for the first time since 1955, and American pork producers 
        were losing between $55 and $70 on every pig they sold;
Whereas, adjusted for inflation, prices paid to American pork producers for live 
        hogs had not been this low since the Great Depression;
Whereas, based on estimates calculated by the Department of Agriculture, 
        American pork producers were losing approximately $144,000,000 in equity 
        per week and lost more than $2,500,000,000 in 1998;
Whereas the decline in hog prices is threatening the livelihood of tens of 
        thousands of farm families in the United States and the very existence 
        of suppliers, equipment dealers, and main street businesses in rural 
        communities all across America;
Whereas, while pork producers have faced declining prices for live hogs, average 
        retail prices in the United States for pork and pork products remain 
        roughly the same;
Whereas the export of American pork and pork products in 1998 increased by 28 
        percent despite the loss of markets in Asia and Russia;
Whereas a primary cause of the decline in hog prices in the United States is the 
        increased supply of live hogs and increased hog exports from Canada to 
        the United States and a reduction in domestic slaughter capacity;
Whereas the slaughter plant bottleneck has been exacerbated by the approximately 
        100,000 Canadian hogs that are being exported to the United States for 
        slaughter each week, which represents a 37 percent increase in Canadian 
        hog exports to the United States; and
Whereas, because of Canadian exports, the number of live hogs exceeded the 
        383,000 daily slaughter capacity of United States plants, thereby 
        depriving American pork producers of all leverage in bargaining for a 
        fair price: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That, while the President and the Secretary of Agriculture are to be 
commended for their efforts to aid American pork producers during a 
time of unprecedented low prices for live hogs, it is the sense of 
Congress that further assistance is urgently needed as follows:
            (1) The President should consider forwarding to Congress an 
        emergency supplemental appropriations request to enable the 
        Farm Service Agency to provide additional direct and guaranteed 
        farm ownership loans, additional direct and guaranteed farm 
        operating loans, and additional interest rate assistance for 
        pork producers in the United States.
            (2) The Secretary of Agriculture should prepare and present 
        to Congress a report, by February 1, 1999, evaluating the 
        feasibility and cost of implementing a disaster assistance 
        program for pork producers in the United States adversely 
        affected by low prices for live hogs, which could include--
                    (A) economic assistance for pork producers, subject 
                to the gross income limitations applicable to other 
                assistance programs of the Department of Agriculture;
                    (B) expanded loan and debt restructuring programs; 
                and
                    (C) compensation to producers for markets lost as a 
                result of the increased export of foreign hogs to the 
                United States.
            (3) The Secretary of Agriculture should continue to 
        facilitate donation and distribution of United States pork and 
        pork products for humanitarian purposes.
            (4) The United States Trade Representative and other 
        appropriate executive branch officials should work with the 
        Canadian Government to address the numerous problems 
        contributing to the increased exports of Canadian pork and pork 
        products into the United States.
            (5) The Secretary of Agriculture should take appropriate 
        steps to encourage increased utilization and expansion of hog 
        slaughter capacity in the United States, including the 
        establishment of additional processing facilities operated by 
        small-business concerns.
            (6) The President should direct the Secretary of 
        Agriculture, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of 
        Commerce to investigate the noncompetitive or antitrust 
        practices in the hog slaughter industry.
            (7) The Secretary of Agriculture should improve price 
        reporting in the domestic livestock industry to ensure fair, 
        open, and competitive markets for American livestock producers.
            (8) The President should ensure the immediate 
        implementation of the proposed rule set forth on pages 51458-
        51488 of volume 63, number 186, of the Federal Register 
        (Friday, September 25, 1998), which would, among other things, 
        increase the availability of commercial credit for family size 
        farmers by streamlining the regulations governing the 
        guaranteed farm loan programs of the Farm Service Agency.
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