{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-usda-provide-certainty-producers", "Johnson to USDA: Provide Certainty to Producers", "2022-03-16", "2022", "2022-03", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) along with his colleagues urged U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack to mirror the Cattle Contract Library Pilot Program included in the fiscal year 2022 Omnibus off of Johnson\u2019s House-passed bill\u2014the Cattle Contract Library Act. This bill overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House in December 2021.\n\n\u201cAs you implement the recently passed appropriations bill, we write to urge you to prioritize the implementation of the cattle contract library pilot program based off the provisions included in our legislation, the Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021,\u201d said the members. \u201cBy quickly implementing the provisions in our legislation, you can help provide certainty to producers across the country who put food on American\u2019s tables.\u201d\n\nH.R. 5609 creates a library for cattle contracts within the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA\u2019s) Agriculture Marketing Service Department. Currently, beef packers are not required to report the details of contract terms to USDA, which leaves cattlemen in the dark, inhibiting a transparent, fair, and competitive market.\n\nRead the full letter here or below:\n\nThe Honorable Tom Vilsack\n\nU.S. Department of Agriculture\n\n1400 Independence Avenue SW\n\nWashington, DC 20250\n\nDear Secretary Vilsack,\n\nOur nation\u2019s cattle ranchers are a vital part of the agriculture industry, helping supply Americans and consumers around the world with safe, healthy beef. They have done so all while facing Mother Nature, a pandemic, supply chain issues, and volatile markets. To make sure our farmers and ranchers have the tools they need to operate their businesses, they need a transparent and competitive market. One area of improvement is greater price discovery and reporting of alternative marketing arrangements. Right now, beef packers are not required to report the details of these arrangements to USDA, leaving cattlemen in the dark as to the contract terms being offered by packers through these extensively used agreements.\n\nThis Congress, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation to address this challenge by directing USDA\u2019s Agriculture Marketing Service to establish a contract library for cattle contracts that would be reported and published along with other ongoing livestock reporting. We also successfully worked to secure funding for this purpose in the FY2022 omnibus appropriations package. As you implement the recently passed appropriations bill, we write to urge you to prioritize the implementation of the cattle contract library pilot program based off the provisions included in our legislation, the Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021.\n\nOur legislation would establish a publicly available, user-friendly cattle contract library that would publish information pertaining to the type of contract; the duration of the contract; provisions in the contract that may affect the base price of the cattle; schedules of premiums or discounts; and transportation arrangements. Further, it would publish information regarding the total number of cattle solely committed to the packer each week within the 6-month and 12-month periods following the date of the contract, or an indication that that the contract is an open commitment. These provisions would equip cattle producers with the market data they need to make more informed business decisions and exert greater leverage in negotiations with major meatpackers.\n\nWe look forward to working with you to support cattle ranchers. By quickly implementing the provisions in our legislation, you can help provide certainty to producers across the country who put food on American\u2019s tables. Thank you for your consideration of this request.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T02:06:17Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-usda-provide-certainty-producers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8643511682748795, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}