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On Monday, President Obama told the US Chamber of Commerce in a speech he wants businesses to make investments that will help create growth and that, “If there is a reason you don't believe that this is the time to get off the sidelines – to hire and invest – I want to know about it. I want to fix it.”
AMI President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle noted in a press release issued following the president’s remarks, “We’ve been telling anyone who would listen that this proposal stands to harm the US agricultural economy and the economy as a whole. We are gratified the president has committed to listening to concerns like ours and we hope he will remove this impediment to investment and growth by withdrawing the rule.”
Obama’s speech occurred on the same day House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) released more than 200 responses to a recent invitation asking businesses to provide feedback on overly burdensome regulations. AMI was one of many organizations that responded with a letter detailing the potential repercussions of the proposed GIPSA rule: http://www.meatami.com/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/65904.
On Feb. 10, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a full committee hearing on the subject of "Regulatory Impediments to Job Creation."
In responding to the president’s speech, Janet Riley, AMI senior vice president of public affairs, appeared on dozens of broadcast television news programs across the US, warning that burdensome regulations like the GIPSA proposed marketing rule will cost more than 100,000 jobs.
“It is also going to severely disrupt the way we do business,” she said. “And it could reduce the quality of the meat that’s produced in America.”
A recent Fiscal Times analysis of the hundreds of regulations submitted to Issa listed the GIPSA proposed rule as among the “five biggest job killers.” AMI’s letter to Issa was quoted in the article: “The proposed rules would make packers and suppliers more reluctant to utilize certain marketing agreements, and goes well beyond the mandate… given by Congress in the 2008 farm bill,” AMI said. To view this article, click here:http://bit.ly/eF48y9.
AMI was also quoted during a segment on regulatory reform recently airing on National Public Radio. “We want to make sure that the president hears loud and clear that this rule is creating uncertainty in the livestock and meat and poultry industries that absolutely will harm the economy and stands to eliminate jobs when every job in America is critical,” Riley said.
