USDA’s beef price gap report is out but it is only the first step in a multi-stage process.
The agency is still looking into potential violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act. It is required by law to report any wrong-doing to the Department of Justice, which has its own investigation into possible antitrust criminal activity. USDA is also asking for more control over investigations.
Oklahoma Representative Frank Lucas supports this request. “What USDA is saying is they need their investigative authority expanded to the equivalent of what the Department of Justice does in antitrust cases, so they can secure more information quicker and in a more aggressive fashion... if there is collusion, if there is manipulation this would give USDA the ability to move as aggressively as the Department of Justice can on these investigations.”
