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U.S.
Senator Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs
Committees |
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For Immediate
Release January 19, 2006 |
CONTACT: Cody Wertz – Comm. Director 303-455-7600 Andrew Nannis – Press Secretary 202-224-5852 |
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new USDA Inspector General’s report about a broad cover-up in the Department’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) where phony investigations were logged to keep up appearances of enforcement while none were taking place. In response, United States Senator Ken Salazar and a bipartisan group of 11 other Senators including Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Craig Thomas (R-WY), Max Baucus (D-MT), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) today joined together to request a hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee on GIPSA’s actions. In the letter to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Senator Salazar and his colleagues wrote, “We believe that the persistent failure by USDA to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act is a very serious matter and that it deserves careful examination and a hearing by the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.” A USDA Inspector General audit has determined that since 1999, the USDA has not filed a single formal complaint for anti-competitive behavior in the meat or poultry industry. In addition, the audit found that the Packers and Stockyards Program, has rarely conducted a large investigation or focused on a major packing firm, and that senior USDA officials prevented anti-competitive investigations from being referred to department lawyers, capable of filing complaints or referring cases to the Justice Department for further action. At the same time, USDA employees padded their enforcement action numbers by counting routine correspondence and reviews of public data. “Small, independent ranchers in Colorado and across the country have faced years of drought, increased concentration in the market, market uncertainty overseas and the expanding power of large agribusinesses,” said Senator Salazar. “Now we find out the very people supposed to be protecting them have been hanging them out to dry. This fraud against the taxpayers and family farmers and ranchers this audit uncovered is totally unacceptable.” Earlier this year, Senator Salazar joined a bipartisan group of Senators including Senators Grassley (R-IA), Dorgan (D-ND), Dayton (D-MN), Enzi (R-WY), Harkin (D-IA), Johnson (D-SD), and Thune (R-SD), in cosponsoring legislation to ban packer ownership and ensure market access for large and small cattle producers. The packer ownership provisions were included in the Senate-passed version of the 2002 farm bill, but were removed from the final farm bill. Currently, four meatpackers control over 80 percent of the beef market. Surveys done by the Colorado Department of Agriculture have cited steady declines in the number of cattle across the state. In 2004, Colorado reported the lowest inventory of cattle since 1962. Furthermore, in 2002, 60 percent of farms and ranches in Colorado had annual sales of less than $10,000. A PDF copy of Senator Salazar’s letter to Chairman Chambliss can be viewed by clicking here. ###
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