Last week the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 221 to 204. The bill, H.R. 7606, is a package of initiatives meant to enhance national food security. Included in the legislation are several provisions including the PRECISE Act, Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act, Strengthening the Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Act, Strengthening the Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Act. The package addresses a variety of issues ranging from meat packing and cattle marketing to fertilizer and precision ag technology.
“Farmers Union members stand firm in their fight against consolidation and corporate monopolies in agriculture, and the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act takes concrete actions to give farmers a leg up,” National Farmers Union President Rob Larew said in a news release. “Now that the House has taken this important step forward, we encourage the Senate to send this to President Biden swiftly. Further efforts to provide greater market transparency, protections for independent farmers and ranchers, and antitrust enforcement, are also needed, but today’s passage of H.R. 7606 is great progress.”
While groups such as the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association and National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition also expressed support for the legislation, others were disappointed by the bill. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association pointed out that the legislation duplicates work within federal agencies, while diverting resources from other critical programs. Some Republicans voted in favor of the legislation; however, the vote was primarily decided among party lines with the majority of Republicans in opposition.
“Democrats have neglected to take serious action to incentivize increased American production. In fact, we are here today to debate a bill that compounds the situation, further limiting American farmers’ ability to meet global food demand and doubling down on the idea that more spending and big government will feed the world,” Republican Leader of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson said prior to the vote. “The crises we are facing cannot and will not be mitigated with unfunded mandates, duplicative authorities, politicized agencies, and big government, all of which are laced into H.R. 7606.”
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