Mandatory Price Reporting And Grand Standards Reauthorizations Approved By House

Monday afternoon the House passed H.R. 2051, a bill to reauthorize the Mandatory Price Reporting Act, the United States Grain Standards Act, and the National Forest Foundation Act. The Mandatory Price Reporting Act and the Grain Standards Act authorities were set to expire on this Wednesday, September 30. 

 

 

Legislative language to reauthorize each of these was introduced, reported by the House Agriculture Committee, and passed by the House on voice vote as standalone measures on June 9. The Senate passed the bill September 21 and sent it back to the House. It now awaits the President’s signature. 

 

“We cleared the final hurdle today,” said Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Pat Roberts (R, Kan.). “Reauthorizing three programs in one bipartisan bill is no small feat, but when our agriculture producers ask for certainty and transparency, that’s what they’ll get.” Click here for Senator Roberts' full statement regarding passage in the House. 

 

House Agriculture Committee chairman Mike Conaway (R., Texas) thanked his colleagues for getting the work done before the bills expired. “H.R. 2051 represents a bipartisan package and the collaborative work of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and I am proud to support this legislation,” Conaway said. “These bipartisan bills will provide certainty for farmers and ranchers and prevent devastating impacts on our nation’s meat industries and grain exporters.”

 

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association applauds the House in reauthorizing Mandatory Livestock Price Reporting through 2020. NCBA President, Philip Ellis, a Wyoming cattle producer, said this action will ensure cattle producers have access to critical market information.

 

“We thank the members of the House in passing this important legislation to ensure cattlemen and women have access to market information,” said Ellis. “Failure to act would have left cattle producers nationwide without critical price information at a very significant time in the marketing year.”

 

Mandatory Price Reporting requires meat packers to report to USDA the prices they pay for cattle, hogs and sheep purchased from farmers and ranchers for slaughter, as well as the prices they receive for the sale of wholesale beef, pork and lamb. Mandatory Price Reporting also requires USDA to issue daily, weekly and monthly livestock and meat market reports.

 

The cattle industry group is unhappy that the measure does not include an "essential government service" designation, which the House had included in the version they passed back in June. When the measure was considered in the Senate, apparently Senator Debbie Stabenow, rnaking minority member of the Senate Ag Committee objected to that designation and it was removed from the Senate language, which was the language approved by the House on Monday. 

 

Colin Woodall, lobbyist for the NCBA, contends price reporting needs to continue whether or not the government is shutdown. He says it affects not just producer decisions but the commodity markets as well. Woodall added that Senate Ag Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, House Agriculture Committee Chair Mike Conaway and ranking Democrat Collin Peterson all agreed that the designation made sense. However, Senate Democrats wouldn't agree to the provision.