News

Competitive Markets Action Sponsors Daily Caller Foundation’s Annual Gala

Published

1 year ago

November 1, 2023

Press Release

This month, Competitive Markets Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit working to defeat the terrible EATS Act, H.R. 4417/S. 2190, assault on states’ rights that Chinese operatives, and groups like the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), China-owned multinational conglomerate Smithfield, and the so-called National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), have been working to enact, sponsored The Daily Caller Foundation’s Annual Awards Gala in our Nation’s Capital. The groups saw great success in discussions with numerous Members of Congress, Tucker Carlson, and Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a longtime proponent of sustainable agriculture.

“We’re proud to be a sponsor of The Daily Caller’s annual gala and appreciate the opportunity to share our message about the EATS Act assault on states’ rights and China’s attempt to takeover American agriculture,” said Marty Irby, President at Competitive Markets Action & Board Secretary at the Organization for Competitive Markets. “RFK, Jr., Tucker Carlson, and the Members of Congress who attended, are key players in the effort to save American family farmers from being put out of business by the likes of NPPC, NCBA, China and Smithfield.”

CMA, along with the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM), the Kansas Cattlemen’s Association, National Dairy Producers Organization, Farm Action, American Grassfed Association, Alabama Contract Poultry Growers Association (ALCPGA), the Contract Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias, and more than 200,000 farmers and ranchers across America, also support the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act, H.R. 1249/S. 557, led by Sens. Mike Lee, R-UT, Rand Paul, R-KY, and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-SC, that would help reform the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s scandal-ridden Commodity Checkoff Programs that fund nearly $1 billion a year to groups like NCBA, NPPC, and others. In 2018, The Daily Caller brought to light the corruption in the dairy checkoff with their investigative report, “Got Scam? Dairy Farmers are being Milked by USDA’s Checkoff Programs.” The Daily Caller has also published numerous opinion works by Irby on the subject here, here, and here, as well as a recent work against the EATS Act by FreedomWorks here.

“We’re working harder than ever to gain more support for the OFF Act led by Sens. Lee, Paul, and Rep. Mace, and applaud the swath of new cosponsors the legislation has garnered in recent weeks,” said Jonathan Buttram, President of the Alabama Contract Poultry Growers’ Association, and Treasurer at the Organization for Competitive Markets who attended the gala. “If American family farmers survive the attacks by China, the NCBA, and others, it’ll be because of the good work we are doing and we pray House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders prevent draconian policies like EATS from sinking the farm bill.”

OFF has seen a raft of new cosponsors – nearly double the number in previous Congresses – that have joined the legislation in recent months including Reps. Alex Mooney, R-WV, Thomas Massie, R-KY, Victoria Spartz, R-IN, and Mike Lawler, R-NY.

“We applaud Reps. Mooney, Massie, Spartz, and Lawler, for backing the OFF Act and the leaders of the legislation who are pressing to reform our broken agriculture system,” said Mike Weaver, Past President of the Contract Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias and Board Director at the Organization for Competitive Markets. “I’m proud to see the full U.S. House Delegation from West Virginia speaking out against EATS and supporting our work for checkoff reform.”

A recent letter from 16 Republicans against the EATS Act’s inclusion in the Farm Bill to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-PA, and Ranking Member David Scott, D-GA, included both Mooney, and Rep. Carol Miller, R-WV, as well as Mace, Lawler, and Reps. Andrew Garbarino, R-NY, David Valadao, R-CA, Mike Waltz, R-FL, Earl “Buddy” Carter, R-GA, Lance Gooden, R-TX, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-PA, Young Kim, R-CA, Mike Garcia, R-CA, Tom Kean, R-NJ, Jeff Van Drew, R-NJ, Chris Smith, R-NJ, and Vern Buchanan, R-FL.

Miller, Mooney, and others also backed a recent checkoff reform measure that Spartz and Massie brought before the full House of Representatives in recent weeks as well.