Risch, Crapo Join Colleagues in Requesting DOJ to Investigate Potential Illegal Practices by Beef Packers

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Senators for Idaho Mike Crapo and Jim Risch today joined Senator Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) and 16 of their Senate colleagues in writing a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting that the department investigate potential anticompetitive activities in the highly concentrated beef packing sector. 

“Recent pricing discrepancies between fed cattle and boxed beef are pushing cattle producers and feeders to the brink…Cattlemen across America seriously question the ability for their children to take over what are frequently multi-generational family-owned operations that serve as the engines for their communities and our country’s food supply,” the letter reads.  “It is critical for the DOJ to act expediently to investigate these concerning circumstances.” 

Along with Crapo, Risch and Fischer, additional signers of the letter included Senators Steve Daines (R-Montana), Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Doug Jones (D-Alabama), Kevin Cramer, (R-North Dakota), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), Tina Smith (D-Minnesota), Martha McSally (R-Arizona), Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), and John Thune (R-South Dakota). 

Full text of the letter is available here. 

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