Providing for Consideration of H.R. Federal Reserve Racial and Economic Equity Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Recovering America's Wildlife Act of and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend from Pennsylvania for yielding me the time.

Madam Speaker, I would like to start off by saying that I am going to specifically talk about H.R. 7606. Many of the bills included in that bill, in H.R. 7606, I supported and helped introduce. The Butcher Block Act, year-round E-15, and the PRECISE Act are all pieces of legislation I have long supported and are included in this package.

I find it stunning that my colleagues in the majority after many months of sitting on these thoughtful, bipartisan bills are finally bringing them forward attached to a poison pill that is duplicative and unnecessary.

Perhaps most disappointing is that this bill is being advertised as an immediate solution to skyrocketing food and fuel prices. But many of these bills are simply codifications of existing programs or duplicative of other efforts all packaged with a feel-good title.

Let me be clear. These will not address the underlying drivers of inflation or increasing input costs. If the majority were serious about bringing down the cost of our food and fuel, they would check their incessant spending habits far beyond the Federal Government's means. They would roll back the Biden administration's regulatory war on agriculture.

But that is not what this bill does.

Madam Speaker, the Packers and Stockyards Division already has enforcement tools at their disposal to address uncompetitive behavior in the meatpacking sector. However, by the Packers and Stockyards Division's own estimates, the agency is chronically understaffed and underfunded. If my colleagues were serious about combating uncompetitive behavior in the meatpacking industry, they would have included robust resources to enhance enforcement under the Packers and Stockyard Act.

This legislation is unfunded and creates an unnecessary and duplicative special investigator appointed by an administration that blames rising costs of goods and services on everyone but themselves and is empowered with nearly unlimited authority to harass market participants when convenient for the politics of this administration.

Further, the Department of Justice has already been in the process of investigating meatpackers with respect to this exact issue.

I would ask my colleague if they have yet to receive any update regarding this effort? And if so, what can we expect from it? I know many of my Republican colleagues and I have been seeking an update for months to no avail. Absent such investigation, it is inappropriate for this bill to move forward.

Much of this package does have bipartisan support, but when I asked why the majority didn't focus on the bills with strong bipartisan consensus, I was essentially told that this is the package, this is what the majority wants. The message to me was, Take it or leave it. This shows, once again, the majority's unwillingness to work in a bipartisan manner and really, really address the issues facing Americans.

That is unfortunate, and I urge my colleagues in the majority to work with Republicans in addressing these issues in a thoughtful and bipartisan manner and to stop playing politics while our country suffers.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this rule and the underlying bill.

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