WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today expressed support for the Senate’s passage of H.R. 3408, legislation that reauthorizes the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act (LMR) until 2010. The Iowa Senators 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 Harkin and Grassley, exposed serious flaws in transparency and accuracy throughout the law. Both Senators have received commitments from Agriculture Chairman Saxby Chambliss to address these issues in the next Congress.
“Passing this bill now ensures producers that the mandatory reporting law is back on the books,” said Harkin. “However, there is still much room for improvement in the LMR system. I look forward to working with Senator Grassley and Chairman Chambliss to addressing the needs of producers and problems cited by the GAO in the next Congress.”
“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. “Senator Harkin and I, along with Senator Chambliss, will be working in the next year to implement the GAO recommendations that are needed to improve the price reporting system. 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 Senators Harkin and Grassley with a pledge of cooperation from Chairman Chambliss.
Senators Chambliss, Harkin and Grassley also sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns urging USDA 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.
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