[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 64 (Thursday, May 9, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      LEGISLATION TO AMEND THE PACKERS AND STOCKYARDS ACT OF 1921

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                            HON. TIM JOHNSON

                            of south dakota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 9, 1996

  Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, as you know, our Nation's 
cattle producers face an extraordinary combination of devastatingly low 
cattle prices and a fed cattle market that has had its competitive 
nature potentially compromised. With the price of fed cattle even lower 
than during the Great Depression--when adjusted for inflation--it is 
critical that Congress and the administration act to improve the 
competitive nature of cattle markets and the prosperity of our 
producers.
  I am pleased today to introduce legislation that will give the 
administration legal authority to enact the following reforms:
  One, direct the Administrator of the Grain Inspection, Packers and 
Stockyards Administration to develop and implement rules that prohibit 
noncompetitive captive supply. These should address potential 
limitations on packer ownership and feeding of slaughter cattle and 
formula arrangements in which price is not determined competitively. 
Cattle producers from across the Nation, including the thousands who 
have recently offered testimony to Secretary Glickman's Advisory 
Committee on Agricultural Concentration, have clearly identified 
noncompetitive captive supply as harmful to producers.
  Two, direct the Secretary of Agriculture to devise and implement 
regulations that require mandatory reporting of the prices and terms of 
sale for slaughter liverstock--and the meat and byproducts of such 
slaughter--purchased by packers who have greater than 5 percent of the 
market for a given species. This information would be reported to USDA 
and be made public on an immediate basis. As we move toward an 
information-based society, the maxim that ``knowledge is power'' is 
especially true for our farmers and ranchers.
  Three, direct the Secretary of Agriculture to develop rules that 
require the reporting of export sales of meat to USDA on a weekly 
basis. This action would help to ensure that all market participants 
have the opportunity to a level playing field in regard to information 
about the market.
  Mr. Speaker, I am certain that you and the rest of my colleagues 
share my concerns regarding the concentration in agricultural 
processing that is ripping through rural American and the potential 
that this concentration may in fact deny competitive markets for 
independent producers. I ask my colleagues to join me in making 
possible these much-needed reforms.

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