[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 21955]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               LIVESTOCK MANDATORY REPORTING ACT OF 1999

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today I was forced to place a hold on 
H.R. 3408 that will reauthorize for 5 years the Livestock Mandatory 
Reporting Act of 1999, LMPR.
  I introduced S. 1617 with Senator Harkin that will extend the act by 
one year. S. 1617 passed this body by unanimous consent during the 
first week of September. Now here we are at the last minute trying to 
pass the House version before an important GAG report is released.
  Last year, Senator Harkin and I requested a GAO investigation into 
the accuracy of reported prices by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
We are so close to having this report released that Congress should 
extend the LMPR by 1 year.
  My bill could be easily taken up by the House and prevent LMPR from 
expiring. This would allow the report to come out and give Congress 
time to evaluate the recommendations.
  There have been several concerns regarding the administration of the 
program ranging from late filed reports by packers and inadequate 
oversight at USDA to ensure compliance and enforcement of the law.
  I have heard from enough livestock producers to know that there can 
be improvement to this important law.
  I am trying to protect the interests of producers and have stated 
before that only those entities that fear transparency should be 
fighting for a 5-year extension with no consideration for GAO's pending 
conclusions.

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