Capitol Report
By Jonathan Nicholson
Published: Apr 29, 2020 4:43 pm ET
Lawmakers worry action endangers workers’ lives, while administration says precautions will be taken
A man shops in the meat section at a grocery store on April 28 in Washington.
Congressional Democrats from agriculture-heavy states lambasted President Donald Trump’s use of the Defense Production Act to keep meat processing plants open, even as some of the facilities have been blamed in the spread of the coronavirus.
Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota said at a press conference in Worthington, Minn., that shuttered plants need to be re-opened, but that can’t happen unless workers feel safe. Peterson is chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.
“No one is going to get those hogs processed if the people who know how to do that get sick,” he said. “At the end of the day, workers are going to have to be protected.”
Peterson said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told him he wanted closed plants to be reopened in two or three days, but Peterson wasn’t sure that would happen.
“The president’s shortsighted action could put more workers in harm’s way and continue to damage our food processing capacity,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Stabenow is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
In the executive order he signed Tuesday, Trump cited the danger of processing disruptions to other parts of the nation’s food supply chain in the wake of several plants’ closures.
Read: Trump issues executive order for meat processing plants to remain open amid pandemic.
“Given the high volume of meat and poultry processed by many facilities, any unnecessary closures can quickly have a large effect on the food supply chain. For example, closure of a single large beef processing facility can result in the loss of over 10 million individual servings of beef in a single day,” according to the order.
The order said restrictions imposed in “some states” led to the closing of plants and were inconsistent with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
One Republican senator, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, praised the move.
“The United States must maintain a robust food supply chain, without sacrificing the safety and health of workers or consumers, if we are going to make it through COVID-19. I applaud President Trump for taking further action to support this critical part of our nation’s infrastructure and keep food on the shelves for the American people,” Cramer said in a statement.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin said food supply chains have to be addressed, but not at the risk of worker safety.
“Those workers have to be safe when they’re called back,” the Democrat said in an interview on MSNBC Wednesday.
Also read: Keeping slaughterhouses open to protect U.S. meat supply may boost these food-packaging companies.
Baldwin said she supported using the Defense Production Act for increasing the supply of personal protective equipment, some of which could then be distributed to the plants.
Larry Kudlow, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said the processors issue was distinct from White House support for easing business owners’ liability related to the coronavirus. He also said the plant workers safety would be looked after. “The CDC will come in to work with USDA on health and safety. That’s totally and really important,” he told reporters at a brief stakeout at the White House Wednesday.
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