001060 Senate OKs Cattle/Hog Regulation Bill

Washington - Legislation that would require the Agriculture Department to use more legal expertise in its regulation of the cattle and hog markets was given final congressional approval from the Senate.

Under the legislation, USDA would have to follow recommendations of a recent General Accounting Office report that said the department was better suited to doing economic analysis than deciding whether meatpackers had violated antitrust laws.

The USDA also would be required to work with the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to "identify and investigate complaints of unfair and anticompetitive practices" in the meatpacking industry.

The provisions were included in legislation reauthorizing the Agriculture Department's grain inspection services. The measure passed the Senate on a voice vote and now goes to President Clinton for his signature.

"Agribusiness has become so concentrated that independent producers question whether they can get a fair price for their products and if it's easier for big companies to compete unfairly and engage in predatory business practices," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

The White House issued a statement Monday saying that the legislation went too far, but it did not threaten to veto it.

In the statement, the White House said the legislation could force the Agriculture Department to consult with the Justice Department and the FTC in every case USDA takes, "thereby creating a barrier to USDA's enforcement activities."

The bill does not provide any money for USDA to hire additional lawyers to investigate meatpacking cases, but Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is trying to get $500,000 earmarked for that purpose in other legislation still pending in Congress, Senate aides said.

The GAO's criticism of the department has allowed Republican lawmakers to portray the Democratic administration as soft on the meatpacking industry, which has long been a target of populist Democrats in Congress. Many farmers and ranchers don't think the agency has done enough to curb the power of large meatpackers.

USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration has relied on its staff of 18 economists to investigate complaints about cattle and hog markets. The department's general counsel assigns some of its lawyers to help investigate the cases, but the number of attorneys has been cut from eight to five because of budget constraints.

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