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Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, both R-Wyo., joined a bipartisan, bicameral letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requesting that it provide immediate assistance to cattle producers.

The letter asks USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to use the resources provided in the recently-enacted Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stabilization (CARES) Act, including the replenishment of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and additional emergency funding. Doing so would help facilitate the stabilization of farm and ranch income for producers who are facing market volatility in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic fallout.

“The COVID-19 outbreak has demonstrated the need for domestic food security,” the members of Congress wrote. “All farmers and ranchers are vital to our country’s ability to keep food on the table in a future pandemic or related crisis, and many producers, including young producers, are often highly leveraged and cannot fall back on years of equity in a time of crisis. As such, we urge you to quickly deliver relief to producers as we work to lessen the economic impact of this pandemic.”

The letter was led by U.S. Senators John Thune, R-S.D., and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas. U.S. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., also signed on.

The members of Congress worked to ensure the CARES Act replenished the CCC and appropriated an additional $9.5 billion for USDA to assist producers, including livestock producers, throughout this crisis.

Text of the letter is available here.

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