Attempt to Overturn Beef Imports from Paraguay

Photo by Kayleigh Omang, 2023

Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) will file a Congressional Review Act resolution that would overturn the decision to lift a long-standing ban on beef imports from Paraguay. Both senators say the Biden administration made the wrong decision.

“Resuming beef imports from a country with a recent history of foot and mouth disease is bad news for consumers and producers,” Tester says. Rounds says U.S. farmers produce the world’s safest, highest quality, and most affordable beef.

USDA’s decision to resume imports relies on an analysis completed in 2018, and American inspectors haven’t been in the country since 2014. In addition to suspending beef imports from Paraguay, the bipartisan bill would also require establishing a working group to evaluate the threat to food safety and animal health posed by Paraguayan beef.

The bipartisan legislation is supported by R-CALF USA, the United States Cattlemen’s Association, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.