{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=366F9502-18FA-4F18-B46D-879D5CE911E1", "SENATE CLEARS LIVESTOCK MARKET BILL TO BECOME LAW", "2016-09-29", "2016", "2016-09", "Republican", "House", "MS", "Thad Cochran", "C000567", "www.cochran.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) today welcomed Senate passage of legislation to ensure protections for livestock producers who use 21th century technology for livestock sales.The Senate on Thursday sent the Clarification of Treatment of Electronic Sales of Livestock Act to the White House.\u00a0 It would amend the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 to ensure that the law\u2019s protections are extended to online or video livestock auctions.\u00a0 The bill would also ensure modern electronic banking options.\u00a0 The Senate approved HR.5883, the companion bill to Cochran and Tester\u2019s S.3350, by unanimous consent.\u201cI am confident that this bipartisan legislation will be signed into law and that the protections it offers to producers will improve livestock transactions,\u201d said Cochran, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.\u201cI\u2019ve seen it firsthand, life on the farm and ranch is changing in the 21st century.\u00a0 We see four-wheelers taking the place of horses, and combines that can do a month\u2019s work in a day\u2014it\u2019s time that our livestock auction laws reflect the world we live in,\u201d Tester said.\u00a0 \u201cI am pleased to see my common-sense bipartisan legislation pass to help bring livestock auctions into the 21st century.\u201dHR.5883, introduced by Representative David Rouzer (R-N.C.), will clarify that Packers and Stockyards Act provisions apply to online or video auctions, just as they do for fixed-facility livestock market transactions.\u00a0 The legislation would also authorize modern electronic payment methods, including credit and debit cards or the Automated Clearing House payments system.\u00a0 The law currently only authorizes the use of checks or wire transfers to settle livestock sales.In Mississippi, the legislation has the support of the Mississippi Farm Bureau, the Mississippi Cattlemen\u2019s Association, and livestock markets in the state.\u00a0 On the national level, it is backed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Sheep Industry Association, Livestock Marketing Association, National Cattlemen\u2019s Beef Association, National Farmers Union, National Livestock Producers Association, and United States Cattlemen\u2019s Association.\r\n###", 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://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=366F9502-18FA-4F18-B46D-879D5CE911E1"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6489066183567047, "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"}