Senate passes livestock mandatory reporting legislation
Iowa senators say needed changes will be made next year
9/21/2006, 3:24 PM CDT
The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed legislation to reauthorize the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act.
Iowa Senators Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley today expressed support for Senate passage of H.R. 3408, legislation that reauthorizes the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act (LMR) until 2010.
The lawmakers also pledged to continue their push for additional improvements in the LMR system that would address the outstanding needs of producers and incorporate recent recommendations by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO report, commissioned by the two Iowa senators, exposed serious flaws in transparency and accuracy throughout the law. Both Grassley and Harkin have received commitments from Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-GA, to address these issues in the next session of Congress.
"Passing this bill now ensures producers that the mandatory reporting law is back on the books," Harkin said. "However, there is still much room for improvement in the LMR system."
"While the passage of the bill is not an ideal scenario, it was important that we have mandatory reporting in place instead of relying on the packers to voluntarily report," Grassley said. "These are necessary improvements that should allow the family farmer to compete on a level playing field."
The Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting Act requires packers, processors, and importers to provide critical price, contracting, supply and demand information to USDA, which uses the information to create price reports for livestock producers.
Since the legislation authorizing the Livestock Mandatory Reporting program expired last September, the program has been operating on a voluntary basis. While Harkin and Grassley previously opposed passing the House version until last evening while seeking additional legislative reforms to improve the program. Those additional reforms are still being pursued by Harkin and Grassley with a pledge of cooperation from Chambliss.
Chambliss, Harkin and Grassley also sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to report its progress in implementing GAO's recommendations, and to determine what USDA can do administratively. USDA has not yet provided information to Congress detailing what it has done to implement the GAO recommendations.
Iowa senators say needed changes will be made next year
9/21/2006, 3:24 PM CDT
The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed legislation to reauthorize the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act.
Iowa Senators Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley today expressed support for Senate passage of H.R. 3408, legislation that reauthorizes the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act (LMR) until 2010.
The lawmakers also pledged to continue their push for additional improvements in the LMR system that would address the outstanding needs of producers and incorporate recent recommendations by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO report, commissioned by the two Iowa senators, exposed serious flaws in transparency and accuracy throughout the law. Both Grassley and Harkin have received commitments from Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-GA, to address these issues in the next session of Congress.
"Passing this bill now ensures producers that the mandatory reporting law is back on the books," Harkin said. "However, there is still much room for improvement in the LMR system."
"While the passage of the bill is not an ideal scenario, it was important that we have mandatory reporting in place instead of relying on the packers to voluntarily report," Grassley said. "These are necessary improvements that should allow the family farmer to compete on a level playing field."
The Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting Act requires packers, processors, and importers to provide critical price, contracting, supply and demand information to USDA, which uses the information to create price reports for livestock producers.
Since the legislation authorizing the Livestock Mandatory Reporting program expired last September, the program has been operating on a voluntary basis. While Harkin and Grassley previously opposed passing the House version until last evening while seeking additional legislative reforms to improve the program. Those additional reforms are still being pursued by Harkin and Grassley with a pledge of cooperation from Chambliss.
Chambliss, Harkin and Grassley also sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to report its progress in implementing GAO's recommendations, and to determine what USDA can do administratively. USDA has not yet provided information to Congress detailing what it has done to implement the GAO recommendations.