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Grassley comments on R-CALF’s investigation request

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley tells Brownfield he has not yet seen the request from cattlemen’s organization R-CALF USA asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the cattle price collapse of 2015.

Grassley chairs the Judiciary Committee.

R-CALF wants an investigation into what it calls “potential antitrust and anticompetitive conduct in the U.S. cattle and beef markets”. The group questions whether the major meatpackers may have “adversely influenced” the cash cattle and cattle futures markets.

“If their accusations are credible—and I’m not saying they are and I’m not saying I’m going to have a hearing—but if they are, I think I would have a responsibility to look into it,” Grassley says.

Even if an investigation does take place, Grassley says it’s not likely to lead to a change in antitrust laws.

“But I think it ought to lead to the fact of whether the Department of Justice is doing its job of enforcing the antitrust laws and watching over it.”

R-CALF says it has provided evidence to the Judiciary Committee indicating that antitrust conduct may have taken place.

AUDIO: Chuck Grassley