Chairman Comer: Lawfare Puts American Agriculture at Risk

WASHINGTON-House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) delivered opening remarks at today's full committee roundtable titled "Farming on Trial: A Roundtable on the Growing Use of Lawfare Against American Agriculture." In his opening statement, Chairman Comer noted how progressive, left-wing administrations have been weaponizing burdensome regulations and frivolous against American farmers, causing harm to their livelihoods. He also highlighted the stories of individual farmers and ranchers who have been harmed by left-wing lawfare and reasserted the House Oversight Committee's commitment to bringing them justice and reforming manipulative agriculture policies.

Below are Chairman Comer's remarks as prepared for delivery:

Good morning.

Today's roundtable is focused on the weaponization of state and federal regulations against American farmers and ranchers.

Agriculture has had a profound influence on my life. I am a cattle farmer by trade and have a deep-rooted understanding of the challenges farmers and ranchers face such as price volatility, fluctuating markets, and unpredictable weather.

Today's farmers, however, face a whole different set of challenges brought on by overburdensome regulations that puts the security of American agriculture's future at risk.

Farmers and ranchers have had their livelihoods, property rights, and way of life directly threatened by detrimental, excessive, and oftentimes meritless litigation directed towards farmers and landowners.

Through evolving regulations, costly litigation, and in some cases criminal prosecution, the federal and state governments have waged a legal war against farmers across America.

The cumulative effect of this aggressive posture towards the farming community has resulted in an erosion of due process, private land rights, and the economic viability of family farming.

Progressive and leftist Administrations at all levels of government have failed agricultural producers. They have created a culture of systemic and selective lawfare intended to hurt the individuals that disagree with their misaligned agendas.

Charles and Heather Maude of South Dakota are victims of this failure in leadership. During the Biden Administration, the Maudes were alerted by the U.S. Forest Service that fencing on their farm blocked access to the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.

After notice, the Maudes agreed in good faith to a land survey. Despite their strides to work with the government to resolve this simple, civil dispute, the Maudes were hit with a baseless and unnecessary criminal prosecution.

The Maudes were indicted separately on federal property theft charges, facing up to ten years in federal prison, and charged with over $250,000 in fines.

The civil dispute was over fifty acres of land and the fence in question was built before Heather and Charles were even born. The Maudes were just trying to maintain their small hog and cattle farm on land that their family had worked on since the early 1900s.

The charges against Heather and Charles were dropped, sensibly, by the Trump Administration in 2025.

This is unfortunately a common situation. The same thing is happening to farm families around the country.

The King Family faced a meritless case of agricultural lawfare by the radical government in the state of Washington.

Wade and Teresa King's family have ranched the same land in Washington since the 1950s. Despite maintaining the land for decades, the Washington State Department of Ecology issued administrative orders claiming the King Family violated the State's Water Pollution Control Act.

These orders demanded restoration of the newly interpreted "wetlands" and levied a civil penalty of more than $267,000 and a $3.7 million restoration order against the King Family.

The "wetlands" in question were simply man-made stock ponds, which is a protected practice in Washington.

Additionally, the stock ponds existed before Wade and Teresa King were even born. This is a brazen attempt to force the King Family to comply with an unintended and incorrect interpretation of state law.

No farm family should be punished for a practice protected by state law. Their stock ponds were incorrectly identified as wetlands, and the Kings were forced to pay the price.

The Kings are hard-working, law-abiding citizens and the sudden reinterpretation of state law turning our American farmers and ranchers into criminals is flat out wrong.

Both the Maude family farm and the King family ranch are a true testament to what the American dream means, and they do not deserve to be wrongfully prosecuted by radical governments.

Thankfully, Secretary Rollins and President Trump have the backs of our great agriculture industry.

Earlier this year, Secretary Rollins unveiled the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farmer and Rancher Freedom Framework: an applicable, common sense policy framework outlining how the federal government can reverse course on years of systemic lawfare against the agriculture industry.

The Framework contains four core tenets to restore effective government programming and policy making related to the agriculture industry: protecting producers, preserving land and liberty, purging burdensome regulations, and being a strong partner for agriculture's future.

Today's roundtable will allow us to converse with three individuals who have seen the harsh consequences of government overreach and overregulation firsthand within the agriculture industry.

American farmers and ranchers are the backbone of our great nation, and they deserve to be able to farm freely without fear of wrongful, politicized prosecution from state and federal leaders.

Make no mistake; overreach and weaponization of local, state, and federal governments will not be tolerated, no matter who is the target.

The House Committee of Oversight and Government Reform will continue to work with whistleblowers who have been subject to agricultural lawfare to bring justice to their stories, while also helping reform policies that have been manipulated against them. We must protect and defend American agriculture at all costs.

It has been an honor to work alongside the U.S. Department of Agriculture in these efforts. We welcome anyone across the aisle willing to join us in supporting Secretary Rollins and the Trump Administration's initiatives to support this critical industry.

I am now pleased to introduce our roundtable guests.

First, we have Marty Jackley. Mr. Jackley is the Attorney General for the State of South Dakota. He was elected for a fourth term as Attorney General in 2022 and has served as Chairman of the National Association of Attorneys General.

Next, we have Shad Sullivan. Mr. Sullivan is the Private Property Rights Committee Chair for R-CALF USA. As an American cattle rancher and fifth-generation agriculturalist, he has committed his career work to advocating for the industry.

Finally, we have Margaret Byfield. Mrs. Byfield is the Executive Director of American Stewards of Liberty. She has been working to protect property rights since 1992.

I welcome our panelists today and look forward to our discussion.