Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression Act

Mr. Speaker, it used to be California was the land of really good ideas and innovation, but the last 30 or so years it has been a place where a lot of really bad ideas come from and impact the rest of the country.

This morning I am talking about pork production in this country and California deciding that it should dictate to the rest of the country how it is done. There is not even that much pork produced in my home State, yet they want to dictate how it works.

A proposition passed that says you cannot use gestation crates for pork production. Gestation crates help piglets to not be squashed by their mother, but it has been interpreted to be something completely different.

We need H.R. 4417, the EATS Act, in order to have pork production in this country that isn't dictated by some crazies at Berkeley in California that say we can't have you produce like that.

We have already went through this with eggs. What this will produce is shortages of eggs, shortages of pork, higher prices, and even possibly lead to the importation of it because one State trying to dictate and reach across State lines to all of the others with its tentacles of its crazy ideas on how things should be done business- wise.

What will stop them from banning oil and gas being used to produce things in other States? It will keep going and going until we stop it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to add my voice to those of my colleagues who are coming to the Floor this week to speak about, and to legislate in response to, the growing threat from the Chinese Communist Party. The threat is real, it is significant, and it is the solemn duty of this body to respond to it.

You will hear a lot this week about the threat to our intellectual property. You will hear about the threat to our privacy, our economic security, and our national security. But I rise today to make sure we don't overlook the very real threat of food security.

I've heard Members of both parties say, ``Food security is national security.'' But tucked into the current version of the House Farm Bill is the H.R. 4417--EATS Act of 2023, a bill that would be a gift to the CCP. It's been lauded by the Chinese media as a way for Chinese-owned companies to dominate market share in the American food industry.

Mr. Speaker, the American Farm Bill should benefit American farmers and protect the American food supply. It should not make it easier or ``more efficient'' for the CCP to control our food supply.

After all, food security is national security.