Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley met with leaders from the Iowa Cattlemen?s Association Monday afternoon to discuss a recently introduced compromise bill on cattle market reform.
Earlier this month, Grassley joined Senators Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Jon Tester of Montana, and Ron Wyden of Oregon in introducing the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act. At the Iowa Cattle Industry Headquarters in Ames, Grassley talked about the bill?s most likely path forward.
?The path forward is quite simply to get this Fischer-Grassley legislation as part of mandatory reporting reauthorization,? Grassley said. ?Because there?s no way (Chuck) Schumer is going to give us time on the floor of the United States Senate to get this done, so it?s necessary to get it done there.?
Grassley says there were a few components of his 50/14 cattle market legislation that were left out of the compromise bill.
?There?s a feeling among some beef producers that instead of on a regional basis of how much has to be negotiated on a daily basis, that it ought to be a nationwide thing instead of a regional,? Grassley said. ?It was something that there were some differences between beef producers in some states compared to Iowa. I would like to have the 50 percent nationwide, but there are other areas where that would be a problem for some beef producers, so this is the compromise.?
The Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act is supported by all six members of Iowa?s congressional delegation. Iowa Cattlemen?s Association CEO Matt Deppe tells IARN it?s good to see support for the bill on both sides of the aisle.
?Our congressional delegation for the most part has been really lockstep,? Deppe said. ?It?s really exciting to see that those individuals ? at least on these topics ? are hearing from their constituency, they are listening to the Iowa Cattlemen?s Association and working forward on behalf of those constituencies too.?
Deppe added commitment to cattle market reform is growing as 11 senators and six representatives ? Democrats and Republicans ? have cosponsored the new compromise legislation.
