McCaskill Continues Fight for Missouri’s Farmers and Ranchers Against Burdensome Regulations

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill continued her fight on behalf of rural communities, telling a Senate Committee that farmers and ranchers should be able to use their farm vehicles to transport their products and crops on public roads, without being subject to the same regulations as long-haul trucks or freight carriers.

McCaskill, along with Senator Roy Blunt, championed a bipartisan amendment to a highway jobs bill earlier this year that would exempt farmers transporting crops, livestock and equipment within 150 miles of their farm from regulations aimed at non-farm commercial vehicles. McCaskill’s amendment would also give individual states the freedom to establish safety rules for agricultural vehicles.

In a letter to the head of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, McCaskill joined with other farm-state Senators to urge that those protections be included in any final version of the highway jobs bill.

“It’s nonsense that a rule meant to apply to an 18-wheeler flying down the highway at 70 miles per hour should also apply to a family famer trying to move grain from his field to a silo in the same small town,” McCaskill said about the proposed regulation. “Transportation of farming equipment needs to be done safely, but we’ve got to make sure federal regulations are only encompassing what they’re intended to, and not applying to a host of other activities.”  

“This provision will reduce the regulatory burden for farmers and ranchers and allow them to efficiently sell their products,” the letter reads.  

McCaskill has been an outspoken advocate for preventing overregulation of family farms and ranches:

·         McCaskill delivered a victory for rural communities, successfully forcing the U.S. Labor Department to withdraw proposed rules that would affect the ability of young adults to work on family farms and ranches

·         McCaskill helped lead a bipartisan group of Senators in pushing for an exemption to allow the transportation of all farm supplies from any distribution point to a local farm retailer or to the consumer during planning and harvest seasons

·         McCaskill confronted the Environmental Protection Agency in opposition to proposed rules over farm dust