Wayne Allard: “I want to emphasize again how very important it is that we proceed on this matter using good scientific evidence. I…”

“I want to emphasize again how very important it is that we proceed on this matter using good scientific evidence. I appreciate the statement that was made by the Senator from Montana. He is right in many regards that we need to be sure that we use good science. I feel good about the enforcement of the rules and regulations based on the visit by scientists who just reported back in February. It is the most recent report that we have on the enforcement of the rules and regulations in Canada. They are very competent scientists, very dedicated scientists. And what they reported back to us is valid. From a trade standpoint, we need to do something for our cattlemen. I believe strongly that what we need to do for the cattleman is get the borders opened because we are importing Canadian beef today. It is boxed beef. The reason that is coming in is because our plants can't economically make it. They are having to pay high prices for beef. They only have a limited supply of beef, and so they are not up to capacity. In the meantime, the processing plants, the beef that they are getting is lower cost beef. And then they are putting that on the world market. They are importing that into the United States. The result is that we see an expansion of the beef industry in Canada. They have got plans to build more processing plants. They are in the process right now of building more processing plants. That means there are going to be more people raising cattle in Canada.”