The American Meat Institute (AMI) gave its support to the 147 members of the U.S. House of Representatives who wrote to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack seeking a timeline for completion of a long-overdue economic impact analysis of one of the most controversial and onerous regulatory proposals that USDA has ever published. The lawmakers also urged Secretary Vilsack to withdraw the proposed rule and re-propose a new rule once the economic analysis is complete.
At issue is a rule proposed in June 2010 by USDA’s Grain Inspection, and Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) that would fundamentally alter the relationships between meat and poultry processing companies and their livestock and poultry suppliers. No detailed economic impact analysis was done by GIPSA when the proposed rule was first published because the agency claimed that the rule was not economically significant. Three private analyses, including one commissioned by AMI, have found that the proposal far exceeds the threshold that would require GIPSA to conduct a more comprehensive analysis. AMI estimates the proposal’s cost at $14 billion.