In less than four minutes, the House debated and passed bills to reauthorize for five years the export grain inspection program and require meatpackers to report the purchase price of cattle, hogs and sheep. Statutory authority for both expires on Wednesday. The Senate approved the reauthorizations last week in a single bill, so now that bill goes to the White House. House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway asked for an immediate signature by the president.
During brief remarks to the House, Conaway said failure to reauthorize promptly the programs “will have a devastating effect” on the grain and livestock industries. Nearly four of every 10 acres of wheat and soybeans are exported, as are one of 10 acres of corn. Reports of “spot” prices at stockyards around the country often are used to calculate the price of cattle and hogs produced under contract for a packer. The reports also are a factor in futures markets.
Lawmakers modified the grain-inspection program to require the USDA to take immediate action if there is an interruption of inspection of grain at export terminals, either by dispatching federal inspectors or inspectors from state agencies empowered to do the job. The new language is a response to the 36-day lapse in Vancouver, Washington, during a labor dispute in 2014. The Washington State Agriculture Department, authorized by the USDA to carry out inspections, withdrew its inspectors on grounds it could not assure their safety. The USDA said it could not dispatch federal inspectors for the same reason.
The bill also expands the scope of the price-reporting system over hog and sheep transactions. USDA reports twice a day on livestock sale prices. Deleted from the final version of the bill, due to Senate objections, was a provision to declare livestock price reporting as an essential government service that would continue during a federal shutdown. Meat inspection is ranked as an essential service.