Senator Marshall: American Ranchers Need Certainty to Rebuild the Cattle Herd

Senator Marshall Joins KCMO Radio, Mundo in the Morning

Great Bend - U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined KCMO Radio's Pete Mundoto discuss the state of America's cattle industry and what he's hearing directly from Kansas farmers and ranchers during his 120 Stops to Strengthen Rural Kansas Tour. Senator Marshall also discussed efforts to lower the cost of gas and groceries, the need to rebuild America's cattle herd, and Democrats' decision to walk away from the Farm Bill.

Click HERE or on the image above for Senator Marshall's full interview.

On beef imports:

"Yeah, well, good morning, Pete. This is an issue I disagree with the President on. I agree with the goal. You know, the goal is that we want the price of groceries to come down for Americans. I just think this is the wrong way to do it. When you talk to Americans - and I've been there before. I came from humble beginnings in med school, in residency, in college. I would have been the person to go to the meat section of Walmart and say, "I can't afford steaks. I can afford chicken. I can afford pork," that type of thing. So there are other, less expensive alternatives for everybody. So I just disagree with this one. It does not give the ranchers the right signal to hang on to those heifers as opposed to selling them. It doesn't give them the signal to start building the herd as well. Now, in the big scheme of things, the markets dropped for about an hour or two. They bounced back pretty close, so they're down about a point and a half, maybe 2%, something like that. So we'll keep an eye on that. But I don't think this is the best move on the President's part."

On rebuilding the U.S. cattle herd and lowering grocery costs:

"Well, to your point, it takes three to four years to build back the cattle herd. You know, there's an issue with something called a screwworm in Mexico. Usually, about a million head of live cattle come across the border every year from Mexico, and we graze them and feed them in Kansas feedlots, and we process them in Southwest Kansas as well.So as we get that screwworm under control, that's going to bring the supply back. But you really want to know what would help? Our credit card bill would lower the cost of gas and groceries 2% or 3% - the bill that forces more credit card competition. So that's the best bill out there that would lower the cost of gas and groceries."

On Iran:

"Well, I am concerned, Pete. I would just say that no one wants this Iran war to be done sooner than the President and I do. We want it to be done tomorrow, but on the other hand, we can't allow Iran to have nukes. So this may be the price. We'll see if the President has a rabbit up his sleeve or not. We'll see if he can get Iran to come to its senses right now. You know, the good news is, though, as soon as this trade is completely open, then those prices are going to come tumbling down because we're out there. You know, by the way, the same rules and regulations that impact the oil and gas industry have impacted the cattle industry. So that is something the President has done for farmers and ranchers - rolling back Waters of the U.S., the Endangered Species Act, all those types of things as well. So certainly the setting is there, but this war can't be done soon enough for me."

On beef prices and the cattle market:

"Yeah, Pete. So we're in the middle of a 120-stop tour around the state of Kansas to strengthen rural America. We've already done 74 stops in the first two weeks, and I have not heard a lot about this. You know, in general, farmers continue to be concerned about input costs, and that would include fertilizer and gas. But I think people, just in general, are concerned about the cost of living, and beef is a small part of it. As I said, they have other choices as well. The cattle markets are the best of my entire lifetime. Yes, they dropped maybe a percent and a half last week, but I think long term, this is just not going to have a big impact on the market. This is probably about 2% of the entire beef that America consumes each year as well. I think it gets some publicity, and the President - he is sincere that he wants to bring down the cost of hamburger. That's the one that he follows. But thank goodness we're selling all these high-grade meats to Japan and overseas, and that's what's supporting the cattle markets. So my farmers and ranchers get that."

On U.S. beef imports and exports:

"Yeah, a large amount of the meat. We do not make enough hamburger in this country to quench America's appetite. So we have to import some hamburger, a significant amount of it, to meet those needs. Our high-grade meats we can sell overseas. We keep some of them, but Japan - the President had a huge trade deal with Japan about 2018. He asked me to be at the signing agreement with them. So we have to import some hamburgers. We just can't grow enough of it."

On the impact on American ranchers:

"Pete, I think it's more complicated than that. Number one is, I don't think they're making a fortune. They've had three or four years where they were literally losing money, and now this is the best market that we've ever had. I'm not hearing the yelling and screaming from ranchers about this. Yes, they're disheartened. They don't think it's a good idea. Of course, whenever the government gets involved with the markets, it's generally a bad thing long term. But I don't hear the yelling and screaming that I might have heard otherwise. Again, you have to look at the big picture. Go back to Mexico. That's 1/13 of our cattle supply stuck in Mexico right now, and we're trying to get this screwworm under control so we can let those cattle in. And some of them are starting to come across now as well. So I think it's a much bigger picture than that as well. I think they're more concerned for the long haul. And that rancher is sitting there saying, "Gosh, shall I sell this heifer to the market for $2,000 or $3,000, or do I keep her so that two years from now she can be having calves for the next five years?" If that makes sense."

On his tour to strengthen rural Kansas:

"Yeah, well, I'm hearing, number one, that my opponent's too woke for Kansas. This is the guy who says that you should repent from eating beef. I mean, wouldn't that be an irony? No one wants a senator from Kansas who thinks you shouldn't be eating beef. So they get it that he's too woke. I think his sermons are coming out. But I'm just not really locked into the campaign yet. We're doing this 120-stop tour, and a big focus is on rural health care. We delivered $1.3 billion for Kansas hospitals through a Medicaid provider tax fund, and about $140 million of that is going out to critical access hospitals. So we're seeing these critical access hospitals get turned around by this injection of money. Again, it's not a long-term fix. It's a fix to help them through the next couple of years as they try to stabilize and right-size themselves as well. So we're out there, you know, trying to be a word of encouragement, a word of hope in rural America. You know what we're hearing from the farmers is they're so upset that the Democrats walked away from a Farm Bill. And, of course, my opponent would be part of that Democrat Party. Every Democrat on the Ag Committee walked away from the Farm Bill because of a fraud issue. They agree with everything in the bill but one thing: they want an extension on the fraud issue. We gave them two and a half years to get their fraud rates down in these states. And by the way, Kansas is not doing well either. Kansas's fraud rate on food stamps went up as well. It almost doubled from 6% to 12%. So we're asking these states to get their fraud rates back down to 6%, where they have to pay part of the administrative cost. So I think that's what the farmers are locked in on: Why would the Democrats walk away from year-round E15?"

On ranchers' support for President Trump:

"These ranchers were America First before anyone knew what the slogan was. You go to all these places, they've got MAGA hats, all those types of things as well. And just like any industry, yeah, you're going to lobby the President not to do things that would hurt your industry. So they've got to stand up as well. But at the end of the day, you go back to the regulatory environment alone and what President Trump has done to roll back these regulations on Waters of the U.S., on the Endangered Species Act. He's opening up more territory for the farmers to have access to the grasslands, all those types of things. They know at the end of the day that the Republicans' and the President's policies are literally 10 to 100 times better than what the Democrat Party's policies would be for the ranching industry. Again, I think my opponent spoke well for the Democrat Party when he said that we should repent from eating beef. That's the true Democrat attitude to all this. Let alone the electric - you know, the green energy, all that stuff - thinking that we're going to have electric tractors and we can't drive our trucks anymore. So at the end of the day, to your point, this is a little hiccup. But these farmers and ranchers support the President."

On the Kansas City Chiefs:

"Well, he was jumping well there, Pete, and I was more concerned when he turns around and misses his extra point. Like, what the heck is going on there? I'm really excited about our defense. They are just jumping around. This is the fastest, quickest, most athletic Chiefs defense, head to tail, that I have ever seen. We've got us a good stable of running backs out there. A little concerned about right tackle. A little concerned about this receiving corps, Pete. Why can't they separate from their defenders right now? I know it's kind of seconds versus seconds out there running, but I just don't see our wide receivers separating. So maybe Andy's saving something up his sleeve for the real season."

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