Rep. Barry Moore blasts legislation creating police force to investigate farmers

Washington, D.C. — Rep. Barry Moore (AL-02) issued the following statement on the Democrats’ H.R. 7606 which would create a duplicative and unfunded office within the Department of Agriculture with a mandate to investigate meat packers and poultry processors and conduct independent litigation against packers and dealers. These additional layers of bureaucracy would leave our producers even more beholden to the whims of the federal government and threaten them with lawsuits from a new USDA police force for non-compliance.

“Farmers are pleading for help from Biden’s economic catastrophe, but Democrats’ only solution is badges, bureaucracy, and Big Brother,” said Moore. “Instead of punishing those in the packing industry and deputizing bureaucrats to force more rules and regulations on the American people, we should be doing all we can to slice red tape, repair the broken supply chain, and end the federal government overspending fueling historic inflation.”

Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act:

Long before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, America's farm families and consumers were struggling with fractured supply chains, skyrocketing input costs, and historic levels of inflation, each of which continue to contribute to increased food prices and diminished inventories. The ongoing conflict has further disrupted the global food system, exacerbating increased energy prices, fertilizer cost spikes and shortages, and worsening food shortages in developing countries. Despite these crises, the Democrat Majority and Biden Administration have pursued a spending and regulatory agenda that compounds the situation and further limits American farmers’ ability to meet global food demand. This package is House Democrats' latest attempt to scapegoat private industry rather than addressing the very real needs and concerns of farm families and rural America.

• This legislation takes a partisan bill, H.R. 7606 - Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act, and adds five additional Agriculture bills and two Energy & Commerce bills to the package, rebranding it as the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act.
• In another effort to shift inflationary and supply chain blame from the administration to businesses, H.R. 7606 would create a duplicative, unfunded office within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) headed by a “special investigator” with a mandate to investigate meat packers and live poultry dealers.
• The investigator would be granted “independent litigation authority” allowing them carte blanche power to file civil suits against packers at the whims of the Secretary without any coordination with the Department of Justice (DOJ)—a longstanding practice required under current law.
• The E&C portions of the bill would waive requirements to allow E-15 gasoline and higher biofuels blends to be blended and sold commercially year-round and authorizes $400 million in grants for building, installing, or upgrading biofuels infrastructure.
• Because these provisions were not considered by the Energy & Commerce Committee during a hearing or markup, it is unclear whether they would in fact meaningfully reduce gasoline prices without placing unnecessary regulatory burdens on retailers or increase emissions.
• This package continues the Democrats’ trend of throwing money at the problem, including $700 million in supplemental authorizations for the Biden Administration without offsets.