Cape News

U.S. Representative Jason Smith (Mo.) announced today that he has coauthored legislation to block the Biden administration’s rule mandating electronic identification (EID) eartags for cattle and bison moving interstate.

“The Biden administration has no business forcing Missouri ranchers to comply with this overreaching, expensive, and unworkable mandate,” said Smith. “Sadly, this is just another example of Washington bureaucrats trying to dictate how America’s ranchers – the best in the world – should run their operation. In addition to raising strong privacy concerns, this mandate will also force ranchers to waste precious time and resources filling out mountains of paperwork and purchasing expensive equipment to avoid hefty fines. I’m proud to stand with Congresswoman Hageman and my colleagues in the fight to protect ranchers from another egregious attempt by the Biden administration to expand government command and control over our rural communities.”

On May 9, 2024, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a final rule amending animal disease traceability regulations to require bison and cattle eartags to be both visually and electronically readable to be recognized as official eartags for interstate movement.

In 2013, APHIS created the animal disease traceability framework which recognizes visually readable tags, brands, tattoos, and breed registry certificates as official identification. This system continues to succeed and keep the U.S. as the producer of the highest quality meat in the world. Notably, APHIS’ new rule acknowledges this successful disease traceability system stating, “Foreign animal diseases such as FMD have been largely excluded from the United States.”

The legislation uses the Congressional Review Act (CRA) process to overturn the Biden administration’s costly new rule. The CRA can be used by Congress to overturn certain federal agency regulations and actions through a joint resolution of disapproval. If a CRA joint resolution of disapproval is approved by both houses of Congress and signed by the president, or if Congress successfully overrides a presidential veto, the rule at issue is invalidated.

In addition to Smith, the legislation is led by U.S. Representatives Harriet Hageman (Wyo.), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Josh Brecheen (Okla.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Byron Donalds (Fla.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Celeste Maloy (Utah), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Andy Ogles (Tenn.), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Matt Rosendale (Mont.), and Victoria Spartz (Ind.). Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate by U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.).