Press Release
This month, 16 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives pushed back against the so-called Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, H.R. 4417/S. 2019, in a letter, led by Reps. Nancy Mace, R-SC, Andrew Garbarino, R-NY, David Valadao, R-CA, and Michael Waltz, R-FL, to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-PA, and Ranking Member David Scott, R-GA, that Competitive Markets Action (CMA) and the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) worked to organize and execute.
The letter, also signed by Reps. Alex Mooney, R-WV, Carol Miller, R-WV, Early “Buddy” Carter, R-GA, Lance Gooden, R-TX, Mike Lawler, R-NY, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-PA, Young Kim, R-CA, Mike Garcia, R-CA, Tom Kean, R-NJ, Jeff Van Drew, R-NJ, and Chris Smith, R-NJ, and Vern Buchanan, R-FL, was also backed by the National Dairy Producers Organization (NDPO), Alabama Contract Poultry Growers Association (ALCPGA), and members of the Contract Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias (VA and WV), American Grassfed Association (AGA), and Kansas Cattlemen's Association, who advocated against EATS in two lobbying summits in Washington D.C. to help defeat the measure.
Leaders of the EATS Act, Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-IA, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KS, have positioned the bill as a regulatory solution by reverting to federal overreach. If enacted, the consequences of EATS Act would be dire. The bill would invalidate hundreds of state and local agriculture laws that support family beef, dairy, egg, and pork producers, as well as hundreds of laws related to food safety and invasive pest control.
“We applaud Nancy Mace and her colleagues for taking a stand against the EATS Act that would sellout American agriculture to China,” said Marty Irby, President at Competitive Markets Action and Board Secretary at the Organization for Competitive Markets. “The Hinson-Marshall EATS Act is an assault on states' rights that's backed by Smithfield, a wholly owned Chinese corporation that continues to rake in billions of dollars by oppressing and exploiting American family farmers.”
In August, a bipartisan group of 30 U.S. Senators submitted a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee leadership opposing the EATS Act, and a coalition of over 170 U.S. Representatives submitted another letter to Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member David Scott, citing their opposition to the bill. Following these letters, the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Counties, and the National League of Cities also submitted letters, emphasizing the importance of avoiding preempting state level laws regarding agriculture production as well as a group of State Attorneys General led by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
The opposition to the EATS Act, H.R.4417/S.2019, continues to garner widespread and diverse challengers, including conservative think tanks such as FreedomWorks and others. With the growing outrage over the EATS Act, the bill faces an uphill battle to be included in the Farm Bill.
