Moran’s bipartisan bill would subsidize small food packing companies during pandemic

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) on May 21 unveiled a bipartisan bill that would provide overtime and holiday fee relief for America’s small meat, poultry and egg processing plants.

“Meatpackers in Kansas and across the country are doing everything they can to stay open and work longer hours to keep our meat supply in stock during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sen. Moran said. “During this pandemic, it is necessary we remove cost-prohibitive barriers so our packers can keep working, ranchers can harvest their livestock and Americans can have access to quality food.”

Sen. Moran introduced the Small Packer Overtime and Holiday Fee Relief COVID-19 Act, S. 3797, with cosponsor U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), to provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) — which charges meatpacking plants a fee for overtime and holiday hours paid to food inspectors — with funding to reduce those fees.

“This legislation would reduce these fees that discourage smaller packing plants from extending operating hours,” said Sen. Moran.

If enacted, S. 3797 specifically would require meatpacking plants with fewer than 10 employees to pay 25 percent of overtime and holiday fees and FSIS would pay the remaining 75 percent. Plants having 10 to 500 employees would be required to pay 70 percent of overtime fees with FSIS paying the remaining 30 percent, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Moran’s office.

U.S. Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Angie Craig (D-MN) on May 22 introduced the same-named companion bill, H.R. 6977, in the U.S. House of Representatives.