III

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 8

Expressing the sense of Congress that assistance should be provided to pork

producers to alleviate economic conditions faced by the producers.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 10, 1999

Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself and Mr. KERREY) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress that assistance should be

provided to pork producers to alleviate economic conditions faced by the producers.

Whereas the price for domestic live hogs has declined by 72

percent since July 1997;

Whereas on December 12, 1998, the price of domestic live

hogs decreased to below $10 per hundredweight for the

first time since 1955;

Whereas pork producers are losing between $55 and $70 on

each hog the producers sell;

Whereas, adjusted for inflation, prices paid to pork producers

for live hogs have not been this low since the Great Depression;
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Whereas based on estimates made by the Secretary of Agriculture, pork producers are losing approximately

$144,000,000 in equity per week and lost more than

$2,500,000,000 in equity during 1998;

Whereas low prices for hogs are threatening the livelihood of

tens of thousands of farm families and the very existence

of suppliers, equipment dealers, and main street businesses in rural communities across the United States;

Whereas the domestic demand for pork increased by up to

7.1 percent during 1998 despite average retail prices for

pork remaining roughly the same;

Whereas despite the loss of markets in Asia and Russia, pork

exports from the United States during 1998 increased by

28 percent;

Whereas a primary cause of these increased pork exports is

increased pork supply intensified by an increase of pork

imports from Canada and a reduction in domestic slaughter capacity for hogs;

Whereas the slaughter plant bottleneck for hogs has been exacerbated by approximately 100,000 Canadian hogs being

trucked to the United States for slaughter each week;

and

Whereas a 37 percent increase in the number of Canadian

hogs being exported to the United States for slaughter

has caused the number of live hogs to exceed the 383,000

daily slaughter capacity of United States plants, depriving domestic pork producers of all leverage in bargaining

for a fair price: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives

2 concurring),
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1 SECTION 1. NEED FOR ASSISTANCE FOR PORK PRODUC2 ERS.

3 It is the sense of Congress that—

4 (1) the President and the Secretary of Agri5 culture are commended on their efforts to assist

6 pork producers in alleviating economic conditions

7 faced by the producers; and

8 (2) additional assistance needs to be provided to

9 pork producers to alleviate the economic conditions.

10 SEC. 2. FORMS OF ASSISTANCE FOR PORK PRODUCERS.

11 To alleviate the economic conditions that are faced

12 by pork producers, it is the sense of Congress that the

13 President should—

14 (1) immediately request an emergency supple15 mental appropriation to provide funds for

16 providing—

17 (A) guarantees of farm ownership loans

18 under subtitle A of the Consolidated Farm and

19 Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1922 et seq.),

20 and operating loans under subtitle B of that

21 Act (7 U.S.C. 1941 et seq.), made to pork pro22 ducers; and

23 (B) assistance to pork producers under the

24 interest rate reduction program established

25 under section 351 of the Consolidated Farm

26 and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1999)
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1 and other provisions of that Act that authorize

2 the Secretary of Agriculture to reduce or sub3 sidize the interest rate paid by pork producers;

4 (2) prepare and submit to Congress a report

5 that analyzes the feasibility and cost of implement6 ing, not later than 30 days after enactment, a pro7 gram to provide disaster assistance to pork produc8 ers, including assistance in the form of—

9 (A) economic assistance;

10 (B) an expanded loan and debt restructur11 ing program; and

12 (C) compensation for lost markets as a re13 sult of increased pork imports;

14 (3) continue to facilitate the donation and dis15 tribution of pork and pork products for humani16 tarian purposes;

17 (4) work with the Canadian Government to ad18 dress the many problems that contribute to the in19 creased export of pork and pork products into the

20 United States;

21 (5) take appropriate steps to encourage in22 creased use and expansion of the domestic slaughter

23 capacity for hogs;

24 (6) direct the Secretary of Agriculture, the At25 torney General, and the Secretary of Commerce to
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1 investigate noncompetitive and antitrust practices in

2 the pork industry;

3 (7) direct the Secretary of Agriculture to im4 prove price reporting in the domestic livestock indus5 try to ensure fair, open, and competitive markets;

6 and

7 (8) immediately implement the loan guarantee

8 paperwork reduction regulation of the Secretary of

9 Agriculture that will allow pork producers and lend10 ers to use existing lender documents, rather than

11 creating new documents, when applying for loan

12 guarantees under the Consolidated Farm and Rural

13 Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1921 et seq.).

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