Congressional Chicken Caucus co-chairs Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA) and Steve Womack (R-AR) on Thursday sent a letter with 100 Members of Congress to USDA requesting a six month extension to the comment period for USDA’s recent Packers and Stockyards Act rule. Senate Chicken Caucus co-chairs Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) on Thursday also sent a letter with 19 Senators requesting an extension.

The rule, known as the “Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Under the Packers and Stockyards Act” proposed rule, poses dozens of detailed, technical questions addressing many aspects of the proposed rule itself, including definitions in the rule, which require substantial time for stakeholders to comprehensively respond.

“Furthermore,” the Senate letter reads, “the Proposed Rule is the latest installment in a three-part rulemaking announced last year.”

USDA in June 2022 proposed a rule entitled “Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments.”

“In addition to [this rulemaking],” the letter continued, “USDA has stated in press releases and in the 2022 Spring Regulatory Agenda its intent to promulgate another proposed rule entitled, ‘Clarification of Scope of the Packers and Stockyards Act.’ Each of these rules are inexorably connected, and USDA has described them as a ‘suite of major actions under the Biden Administration to create fairer marketplaces for poultry, livestock, and hog producers.’ To fully understand the economic, legal, and operational impacts of the Proposed Rule, and to provide meaningful comments, stakeholders and our constituents must have the opportunity to consider USDA’s competition agenda in its entirety.”

As such, the letter requests that USDA extend the comment period of the proposed rule for 180 days.

The Senate letter can be found here and the House letter can be found here.

The Senate letter included 19 signatures: Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Tom Carper (D-DE), Mark Warner (D-VA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tim Scott (R-SC), John Boozman (R-AR), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), James Lankford (R-OK), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Richard Burr (R-NC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Mike Braun (R-IN).

The House letter included 100 signatures:

  1. Aderholt, Robert
  2. Allen, Rick
  3. Arrington, Jodey
  4. Babin, Brian
  5. Baird, James
  6. Bentz, Cliff
  7. Bergman, Jack
  8. Bishop, Dan
  9. Blunt Rochester, Lisa
  10. Bost, Mike
  11. Bucshon, Larry
  12. Budd, Ted
  13. Calvert, Ken
  14. Carter, Earl
  15. Cline, Ben
  16. Cloud, Michael
  17. Clyde, Andrew
  18. Cole, Tom
  19. Comer, James
  20. Conway, Connie
  21. Costa, Jim
  22. Craig, Angie
  23. Crawford, Eric
  24. Cuellar, Henry
  25. DesJarlais, Scott
  26. Diaz-Balart, Mario
  27. Duncan, Jeff
  28. Emmer, Tom
  29. Feenstra, Randy
  30. Ferguson, A.
  31. Finstad, Brad
  32. Fischbach, Michelle
  33. Fleischmann, Charles
  34. Flood, Mike
  35. Flores, Mayra
  36. Foxx, Virginia
  37. Franklin, C.
  38. Fulcher, Russ
  39. Garbarino, Andrew
  40. Gohmert, Louie
  41. Gonzales, Tony
  42. Gonzalez, Vicente
  43. Good, Bob
  44. Gooden, Lance
  45. Granger, Kay
  46. Graves, Sam
  47. Guest, Michael
  48. Harris, Andy
  49. Harshbarger, Diana
  50. Hartzler, Vicky
  51. Hill, J.
  52. Hinson, Ashley
  53. Hudson, Richard
  54. Huizenga, Bill
  55. Jackson, Ronny
  56. Jacobs, Chris
  57. Johnson, Dusty
  58. Keller, Fred
  59. Kelly, Trent
  60. Kildee, Daniel
  61. Kustoff, David
  62. LaHood, Darin
  63. LaMalfa, Doug
  64. Latta, Robert
  65. LaTurner, Jake
  66. Letlow, Julia
  67. Lucas, Frank
  68. Mace, Nancy
  69. Mann, Tracey
  70. McClain, Lisa
  71. McClintock, Tom
  72. Meuser, Daniel
  73. Miller, Mary
  74. Miller-Meeks, Mariannette
  75. Moolenaar, John
  76. Moore, Barry
  77. Mullin, Markwayne
  78. Murphy, Gregory
  79. Newhouse, Dan
  80. Norman, Ralph
  81. Palazzo, Steven
  82. Panetta, Jimmy
  83. Pence, Greg
  84. Pfluger, August
  85. Reschenthaler, Guy
  86. Rogers, Harold
  87. Rose, John
  88. Rouzer, David
  89. Scott, Austin
  90. Simpson, Michael
  91. Smith, Adrian
  92. Soto, Darren
  93. Stauber, Pete
  94. Steube, W.
  95. Thompson, Glenn
  96. Trone, David
  97. Valadao, David
  98. Walberg, Tim
  99. Westerman, Bruce
  100. Womack, Steve