Chicken Farmer Amendment
On Sunday, May 17, 2015, The Chicken Farmer Amendment segment aired on “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” a popular HBO show, ignighting a social media firestorm. There was some confusion on how Rep. Quigley voted on Rep. Kaptur's amendment mentioned in the segment. Below for public review is a summary of the amendments offered by Rep. Kaptur, a video of the FY 2015 Agriculture Appropriations markup, and the roll call vote count for each amendment.
Rep. Quigley was proud to vote in favor of both of Congresswoman Kaptur’s amendments in support of farmer rights and looks forward to seeing her amendments in committee again soon.
Summary
On May 29, 2014, the Appropriations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives marked up the agriculture funding bill for Fiscal Year 2015. That bill included a provision known as the GIPSA rider (Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Act), which prohibited USDA from using any money to implement rules authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill to protect chicken farmers from industry retaliation.
The USDA rule in question was developed over a six year period, during which time USDA held numerous public forums and interviewed many farmers, processors and others. The final rule was designed by USDA to protect poultry, cattle and pig farmers from industry retaliation if they spoke out, and to ensure the farmers would have standing when negotiating contracts with large industrial meat processing companies.
Rep. Kaptur proposed two amendments during the markup in an effort to remove some or all of the GIPSA rider and allow USDA to enforce these 2008 Farm Bill protections. The first amendment she proposed attempted to remove the entire GIPSA rider, which is referred to here as section 730 of the bill. That amendment was declined. The second amendment focused specifically on allowing USDA enforcement of protections of farmers’ right to speak about their conditions without fear of retaliation. Rep. Kaptur noted several examples of this kind of retaliation. That amendment was also declined.
Video
Full Committee Markup - FY 2015 Agriculture Appropriations Bill
ROLL CALL NO. 3 (AMENDMENT #1): Recorded vote - 18 yeas, 31 nays
Members Voting Yea:
Mr. Quigley
Mr. Bishop
Ms. DeLauro
Mr. Farr
Mr. Honda
Ms. Kaptur
Ms. Lee
Mrs. Lowey
Ms. McCollum
Mr. Moran
Ms. Pingree
Mr. Price
Ms. Roybal-Allard
Mr. Ryan
Mr. Schiff
Mr. Serrano
Mr. Visclosky
Ms. Wasserman Schultz
Members Voting Nay:
Mr. Aderholt
Mr. Amodei
Mr. Calvert
Mr. Carter
Mr. Cole
Mr. Crenshaw
Mr. Cuellar
Mr. Culberson
Mr. Dent
Mr. Diaz-Balart
Mr. Fleischmann
Mr. Fortenberry
Mr. Frelinghuysen
Ms. Granger
Mr. Graves
Dr. Harris
Ms. Herrera Beutler
Mr. Joyce
Mr. Kingston
Mr. Latham
Mr. Nunnelee
Mr. Owens
Mrs. Roby
Mr. Rogers
Mr. Rooney
Mr. Simpson
Mr. Stewart
Mr. Valadao
Mr. Wolf
Mr. Womack
Mr. Yoder
ROLL CALL NO. 5 (AMENDMENT #2): Recorded vote - 20 yeas, 29 nays
Members Voting Yea:
Mr. Quigley
Mr. Bishop
Ms. DeLauro
Mr. Farr
Mr. Fattah
Mr. Fortenberry
Mr. Honda
Ms. Kaptur
Ms. Lee
Mrs. Lowey
Ms. McCollum
Mr. Moran
Ms. Pingree
Mr. Price
Ms. Roybal-Allard
Mr. Ryan
Mr. Schiff
Mr. Serrano
Mr. Visclosky
Ms. Wasserman Schultz
Members Voting Nay:
Mr. Aderholt
Mr. Amodei
Mr. Calvert
Mr. Carter
Mr. Cole
Mr. Crenshaw
Mr. Cuellar
Mr. Culberson
Mr. Dent
Mr. Diaz-Balart
Mr. Fleischmann
Mr. Frelinghuysen
Ms. Granger
Mr. Graves
Dr. Harris
Ms. Herrera Beutler
Mr. Joyce
Mr. Kingston
Mr. Latham
Mr. Nunnelee
Mr. Owens
Mrs. Roby
Mr. Rogers
Mr. Rooney
Mr. Simpson
Mr. Stewart
Mr. Valadao
Mr. Womack
Mr. Yoder
Learn more about this issue on Rep. Kaptur's website.