Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999

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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