WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators for Idaho Jim Risch and Mike Crapo today joined Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and 16 of their Senate colleagues in writing a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that the department investigate potential anticompetitive activities in the highly concentrated beef packing sector.

“Recent pricing discrepancies between fed cattle and boxed beef are pushing cattle producers and feeders to the brink…Cattlemen across America seriously question the ability for their children to take over what are frequently multi-generational family-owned operations that serve as the engines for their communities and our country’s food supply,” the letter reads. “It is critical for the DOJ to act expediently to investigate these concerning circumstances.”

Along with Risch, Crapo, and Fischer, additional signers of the letter included Senators Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Kevin Cramer, (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), and John Thune (R-S.D.).

Full text of the letter is available here.