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Kansas, Creekstone friend of court

Tommy

Well-known member
Lawmakers dispute beef packing item



By Sarah Kessinger

Harris News Service

The Hutchinson News

05/05/2006

Kansas, US



TOPEKA - Where's the beef?



It's in the budget. And some lawmakers don't want it there.



One of the last items in dispute in a final budget bill before legislators is a brief item about a beef packing company's attempt to test its cattle.



The proviso, which was amended on the House floor, directs the governor and attorney general to file a "friend of the court" brief on behalf of Creekstone Farms in its federal lawsuit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.



Creekstone is suing the federal agency over testing of mad cow disease among its slaughter cattle bound for foreign markets. The company wants to test the cattle so it can assure Japanese buyers the meat is safe.



Japan's borders are closed to U.S. beef because of concerns about meat contaminated by the disease. Only a few cases have been found in the United States, but Japan has had several in its domestic supply.



But the USDA. has refused to sell any test kits to Creekstone, which has a small beef plant in Arkansas City. Federal officials and the nation's largest meatpacking companies both say mass testing is unnecessary.



Critics have said the large packers simply don't want the competition.



House and Senate budget negotiators on Thursday remained far apart on resolving the disagreement over the proviso. House chief negotiator Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said his chamber wasn't backing away from it.



But Senate budget Chairman Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer, wasn't budging either.



"We need to be respectful of the USDA with what they're trying to do as far as opening trade agreements with Japan," Umbarger said. "I think it's inappropriate to have that in there. We have no business getting into that."



Rep. Ed Trimmer, D-Winfield, first proposed the proviso. Creekstone's plant is in his district.



"Why an industry that wants to go above standards and open foreign markets at their own expense would be held back by the federal government and larger beef producers is beyond me," Trimmer said.



"I've heard a lot of talk about how to improve the economy, and here's an opportunity Yet some are doing everything they can to prevent that from happening."
 
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