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HYDE-SMITH BACKS BILL TO PROTECT CATTLE GROWERS FROM DEALERS WHO DEFAULT
Miss. Senator Signs as Original Cosponsor of the Securing All Livestock Equitably (SALE) Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today announced that she is an original cosponsor of legislation to help protect cattle growers from dealers who default on their payments.
The Securing All Livestock Equitably (SALE) Act (S.3419) would establish dealer statutory trusts, much like the statutory trusts now required of the packing industry, to ensure cattle sellers receive payment if a livestock dealer becomes insolvent.
“Livestock growers need better options than being left high and dry when a dealer defaults on what’s owed to the farmer or rancher who raised the cattle,” Hyde-Smith said. “This bipartisan legislation would establish a workable plan to give sellers relief if a livestock dealer defaults and can’t back their checks.”
Hyde-Smith, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Marketing, and Agriculture Security, supported a provision in the 2018 Farm Bill requiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study the feasibility of establishing a Livestock Dealer Statutory Trust. The USDA study released in December helped build the case for the SALE Act.
The often-quick purchase and resale of cattle by a livestock dealer leaves the rancher who originally owned the cattle with little recourse if a dealer defaults on a purchase. Under current law, banks and other creditors receive priority status in efforts to recover losses.
The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, the Mississippi Farm Bureau, the Mississippi Cattlemen’s Association, the Livestock Marketing Association, and the National Cattlemen’s Association are among the groups supporting S.3419.
Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced the SALE Act, with the following other original cosponsors: Senators Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Jon Tester (D-Mont.).
