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Lofgren, Panetta, Costa & Bipartisan Colleagues Urge Biden Admin to Take Further Action to Ease Supply Chain Problems, Allow American Farmers to Fairly Compete Globally

January 26, 2022

SAN JOSE, CA – In a letter to President Joe Biden, U.S. House Representatives Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Jim Costa (CA-16), Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), David Valadao (CA-21), Dusty Johnson (SD-AL) and 66 other Members of Congress asked the Administration to take immediate action to help strengthen exports out of U.S. ports to allow American farmers to fairly compete in the global market, including by:

  • Temporarily incentivizing foreign shipping companies to fill containers with U.S. exports;
  • Temporarily suspending regulations on vehicle weight limits for truckers hauling certain goods; and
  • Providing exporters with better access to shipping and logistics equipment.

The Members wrote: "We urge you to further use your emergency powers to address this supply chain crisis and mitigate the risks to agriculture in the United States. This includes steps to address cargo ships leaving our U.S. ports with empty containers while U.S. goods waiting for export are rejected, as well as transportation-related issues that are further exacerbating the situation."

Click here to read or download the full text of the letter.

The letter is co-signed by 71 members of Congress and is endorsed by nearly two dozen agricultural groups, including the Agricultural & Food Transporters Conference, Agriculture Transportation Coalition, Almond Alliance, California Dairies, Inc., California Farm Bureau Federation, Cargill, Fruit Growers Supply, Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference, International Dairy Foods Association, Leprino Foods, National Milk Producers Federation, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, North American Meat Institute, Tyson Foods, Inc. U.S. Dairy Export Council, Sunkist Growers, and the Western Growers.

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