Biden Administration's Beef Imports Rattle Senators

Haylie Shipp

In a milestone announcement, the Biden Administration announced last month that as of December 14, 2023, imports of beef from Paraguay would be accepted in the U.S. It’s the first time in 25 years such a transport has been allowed from the South American country with historic foot and mouth disease (FMD) struggles.

Not on board is U.S. Senator for the state of Montana, Jon Tester. I sat down with him this week..

“Why they’re putting the whole industry at risk, because I do believe that’s the case, doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever.”

Tester, who is a farmer himself, has joined with South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds to double down against the move…

“We’re going to stop this and we’re going to do it one of two ways: either we’ll have an act of Congress through a bill that Senator Rounds and I have or we’ll do it through a thing called a Congressional Review Act which we’ll bring it up and say the administration can’t implement this rule and Congress will vote on it. I honestly think if that’s put up in front of the Senate, we’ll get nearly every one of the votes of the Senators for it because I just think this is bad policy. It doesn’t make any sense for production agriculture, and it doesn’t make any sense for the consumer either, so it’s really a lose-lose situation.”

While a concern for cattle health, FMD is not a threat to food safety or human health, according to the USDA, FDA, CDC and World Health Organization.