{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mann.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-mann-costa-and-colleagues-defend-american-beef-producers", "Reps. Mann, Costa, and Colleagues Defend American Beef Producers", "2023-12-01", "2023", "2023-12", "Republican", "House", "KS", "Tracey Mann", "M000871", "mann.house.gov", "mann", "https://mann.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representatives Tracey Mann (KS-01) and Jim Costa (D-CA), Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee\u2019s Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry, led 19 of their colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack opposing a new rule that would allow for the importation of beef from Paraguay.\n\nAccording to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Paraguay is currently affected with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious viral disease affecting cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and other cloven-hooved animals. USDA\u2019s new rule relies on decade- and nearly decade-old site visits to Paraguay in 2008 and 2014 to overcome the prohibition of importing beef from the country.\n\n\u201cUSDA relied on outdated site visits, irrelevant inspections, and inadequate data to overcome these prohibitions,\u201d the members wrote. \u201cParaguay knows what we all know \u2013 the U.S. is the largest, most reliable consumer of beef in the world. We have that reputation because of the tireless work of beef producers to provide the safest and most efficient beef production system in the world. The U.S. should not expand our market to unsafe actors at the risk of the health and livelihood of U.S. agricultural producers and consumers.\u201d\n\nThe members urge USDA to halt the implementation of the rule until a more reliable risk assessment may be completed based on modern site visits in Paraguay.\n\n\u201cThe United States has the highest food safety and animal health standards in the world, and any country who wishes to trade with the United States must demonstrate that they can meet those standards,\u201d said Ethan Lane, Vice President of Government Affairs, National Cattlemen\u2019s Beef Association. \u201cParaguay\u2019s long history of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks and the lack of recent site visits, makes importing beef from Paraguay too risky. All our trade partners need to have inspection systems that can clearly provide an equivalent level of safety for animal health to prevent a possible foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the United States. Cattle producers thank Representatives Tracey Mann and Jim Costa for holding USDA accountable and helping to protect cattle from foreign animal disease.\u201d\n\nClick here to view the USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service rule.\n\nClick here to view Rep. Mann\u2019s Commitment to the Big First.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "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://mann.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-mann-costa-and-colleagues-defend-american-beef-producers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9853672236204147, "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"}