Food Safety and Security

KANSAS CITY, MO – On Friday and Saturday, Members of the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM), met in the Heart of America, for the group’s annual conference focused on concerns with the so-called Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, H.R. 4417/S.2019, led by Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, mRNA vaccines, and the anti-trust issues surrounding multinational conglomerate packers like the Chinese-owned Smithfield, Brazil-based JBS, Tyson, and Cargill. The group also rallied around the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act, H.R.1249/S.557, led by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Rand Paul, R-Ky., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Dina Titus, D-Nev, and the draft Agriculture Marketing Protection (AMP) Act. The conference follows OCM’s Farm Bill Summit and fly-in to Washington, D.C., the prior week. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  This month, Competitive Markets Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit working to defeat the terrible EATS Act, H.R.4417/S.2019, assault on states’ rights that Chinese operatives, and groups like the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), China-owned multinational conglomerate Smithfield, and the so-called National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) have been working to enact, sponsored The Daily Caller Foundation’s Annual Awards Gala in our Nation’s Capital. The groups saw great success in discussions with numerous Members of Congress, Tucker Carlson, and Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a longtime proponent of sustainable agriculture.

Washington, D.C. —Today, the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) and Competitive Markets Action (CMA), publicly announced the recipients of their 2023 Congressional Leadership Awards and their Competitive Markets Legislator of the Year Award recipient, U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-WV.

The groups measured recognition by three actions in the U.S. House: Leaders of a letter to the House Agriculture Committee Chairman and Ranking Member with staunch opposition to the terrible so-called Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, H.R. 4417, led by Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-IA, that would nullify more than a thousand state and local laws that provide certainty and security in the marketplace for independent family farmers and ranchers.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Competitive Markets Action and the Organization for Competitive Markets applauded Moms for America (MFA) President Kimberly Fletcher, and Republican Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who responded to testimony before Congress last week given by Joe Biden’s Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, against California’s Proposition 12 enacted in 2018 by voters at the ballot box. Prop 12 was upheld by the Supreme Court of the U.S. last May by a vote of 5 to 4 with Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Coney Barrett voting to uphold the measure while Vilsack and the Biden Dept. of Justice submitted briefs to the contrary and sided with the Chinese interests and the Chinese Communist Party that financed the purchase of Smithfield in 2013.

WASHINGTON DC – In a sweeping show of solidarity, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), National Association of Counties (NACo), and the National League of Cities (NLC) have jointly written a letter to the leadership of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate Agriculture Committees, stating their firm opposition to the federal bill, the Exposing Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act (H.R.4417/S.2019).

Citing the 10th Amendment, the cornerstone of constitutional federalism, the three organizations emphasized that the EATS act threatens state and local governments, who have the authority to enact laws that protect residents from a myriad of issues, such as invasive pests and livestock diseases.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Competitive Markets Action, the Organization for Competitive Markets, and the Alabama Contract Poultry Growers Association applauded Governors from across the United States for urging Congress to prioritize the reauthorization of the Farm Bill. The co-chairs of the National Governors Association (NGA) Education, Workforce and Community Investment Task Force – Govs. Brad Little, R-ID, and Albert Bryan, D-USVI, have just sent a letter to Congressional leaders, urging them to consider key Farm Bill priorities for the next reauthorization of the bill.

The Governors emphasized the importance of avoiding preempting state level laws regarding agriculture production, writing that “states succeed when the federal government avoids granting a private right of action against states that maintain their own production or manufacturing standard on agricultural products.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A coalition of Attorney Generals, representing 16 states, have submitted a letter to House leaders, Speaker McCarthy, R-CA, Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, and Senate Leaders Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Mitch McConnel (R-KY), stating their firm opposition to the so-called Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, H.R.4417/S.2019, a proposed federal bill that would undermine the rights of States to regulate agriculture within their jurisdictions and would nullify countless state and local laws.

Leaders of the EATS Act, Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-IA, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KS, have positioned the bill as a regulatory solution by reverting to federal overreach. If enacted, the consequences of EATS Act would be dire. The bill would invalidate hundreds of state and local agriculture laws that support family beef, dairy, egg, and pork producers, as well as hundreds of laws related to food safety and invasive pest control.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, a bipartisan  group of 30 U.S. Senators sent a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Ranking Member John Boozman, R-Ark., expressing their opposition to the so-called Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, S.2019/H.R.4417, and its inclusion in the 2023 Farm Bill. The controversial EATS Act, led by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, and Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, would harm small farmers, threaten state laws, and infringe on states’ rights to establish laws and regulations within their own borders. To date, the EATS Act has dismal support in both Chambers with only 31 cosponsors in the U.S. House and 13 cosponsors in the Senate.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 150 Members of the U.S. House joined today in sending a letter to U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-Pa., and Ranking Member David Scott, R-Ga., citing their opposition to the so-called Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, H.R. 4417/S. 2019, led by Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas in the Senate.

Two of the leading groups that lobbied the Members of Congress to join the letter include the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM), Competitive Markets Action (CMA), as well as members of the Alabama Contract Poultry Growers Association, Kansas Cattlemen’s Association, National Dairy Producers Organization, Contract Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias, and others. In June, OCM and CMA launched a public campaign against EATS, a measure the groups deem an assault on states’ rights and a gift to Chinese pork conglomerates like Smithfield.

Washington, D.C. — Today, ten U.S. House Representatives, primarily Members of the House Freedom Caucus, weighed in with staunch opposition to the so-called Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, H.R. 4417/S. 2019 , led by Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-IA, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KS, in a letter to House Agriculture Committee leaders. Fox News broke the story here on the letter that the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) and Competitive Markets Action (CMA) advocated for.

EATS Act is widely viewed as an attack on states’ rights to benefit China’s hold on the American pork industry, as groups like the Organization for Competitive Markets, Competitive Markets Action, FreedomWorks, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, and Moms for America have conveyed