Senators Want to Delay Liberalizing of Imports of Live Goats, Sheep
Eight Republicans and two Democrats introduced a bill in the Senate that would prohibit the Agriculture Department from administering a rule on the importation of sheep and goats (see 1607150025). The rule was first proposed in 2016, and the final rule was announced Dec. 2 (see 2112020022). Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and his co-sponsors introduced the bill a week later, and its text was recently published. A bipartisan House companion bill, with 17 sponsors and co-sponsors, was also introduced in December.
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The bill would prevent the administration from implementing the rule for one year from the time of the bill's passage while the Agriculture Department studies the rule's costs and benefits, including by estimating how much sheep and goat meat would be imported, the increase of live sheep and goats imported, and the estimated demand by state for sheep and goat meat over the next 10 years. The senators are seeking a projection of the effect of the rule on the price of live sheep and goats in the U.S. They also want to know how sheep and goat producers in foreign countries are subsidized by their governments.
They are asking for the department to estimate how the rule would affect the health of U.S. flocks, though presumably, the rule on imports was promulgated because USDA believed these imports were not likely to spread disease in the U.S.
After the study, the department should recommend changes to the rule "to eliminate or mitigate any negative effects of the implementation of the rule," the bill says.