{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pingree.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/pingree-applauds-new-rules-protect-nation-s-contract-poultry-farmers", "Pingree applauds new rules to protect nations contract poultry farmers", "2016-12-14", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "ME", "Chellie Pingree", "P000597", "pingree.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congresswoman Pingree talks with a group of contract poultry farmers about the unfair practices large processors have subjected them to.\nCongresswoman Chellie Pingree today applauded the release of new Farmer Fair Practice Rules by the USDA Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA). \u00a0The new rules will help level the playing field between poultry farmers and the large processors they contract with.\n\u201cI applaud the release of these long-awaited protections. \u00a0They are absolutely necessary in supporting farmers across the country by promoting transparency, equity, and certainty in contract farming,\u201d said Pingree. \u00a0\u201cI had dinner with a group of contract poultry farmers just last week. \u00a0It was appalling to hear how these unbalanced contracts go beyond just hurting their businesses to actually forcing their families into poverty or causing them to lose their homes.\"\nThe rules include one interim final rule clarifying that farmers do not have to show competitive injury under the Packers and Stockyards Act, as well as two proposed rules that address additional abusive and unfair practices in contract poultry farming.\nOn the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Pingree has actively fought against appropriations amendments that have blocked the USDA from writing the rules for years. She helped defeat such an amendment last year, which allowed USDA to finally release the rules.\u00a0\n\u201cSaying these rules are long overdue is an understatement,\u201d said Pingree. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a travesty that Congress has held them up for so many years\u2014despite my best efforts and that of several colleagues\u2014but I very much appreciate the Obama Administration for prioritizing them.\"", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://pingree.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/pingree-applauds-new-rules-protect-nation-s-contract-poultry-farmers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7535730730742216, "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"}