Legislation comes as grocery prices skyrocket and Trump mocks affordability as a “hoax”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, and Food Safety, joined Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and American Economic Liberties Project for a press conference at the National Press Club to unveil the Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act, new legislation to address record-high grocery prices squeezing American families.  

As President Trump mocks affordability as a “hoax,” Senate Democrats are using all tools available to tackle the high cost of living, focusing on the issues that matter to everyday Americans. The new Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act would break up dominant meatpackers, rein in foreign-controlled corporate giants, and use federal tools to stop unfair pricing that drives up grocery bills for American families and hurts workers, farmers, and ranchers. 

“At the root of the raging affordability crisis is consolidation, which is hollowing out our communities in rural Vermont. It’s totally unsustainable, and it’s clear the Trump Administration will keep refusing to take action. Congress has an obligation to step in,” said Senator Welch. “Democrats believe that those who create the wealth should get a reasonable share of the wealth they created. I’m proud to be a co-sponsor of this legislation to break up the meatpacking industry, put American small businesses and companies first, and take on rising grocery costs head-on.” 

View photos from the event below: 

The Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act, is a competition driven, pro-farmer, pro-rancher, pro-worker, pro-consumer, cost of living bill that breaks up dominant meatpackers, reins in foreign controlled corporate giants, and uses all available tools to stop unfair pricing that drives up grocery bills for American families. It is designed to turn big structural reforms into concrete benefits: more competition and greater fairness for farmers and ranchers, more resilient supply chains, and lower prices and better choices at the meat counter. 

Specifically, the Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act:  

• Makes it unlawful for a major meatpacking conglomerate to control more than one major type of meat, forcing the biggest players to choose a line of business; 

• Imposes hard caps on the concentration of beef markets at both the regional and national levels; 

• If these thresholds are exceeded, the FTC must order targeted divestitures—selling off plants, facilities, or business units, or spinning off new independent firms—until markets are competitive again 

• Directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to design and enforce divestiture plans, so the law delivers real structural change, not just fines that companies treat as a cost of doing business, while maintaining or improving employment, honoring collective bargaining agreements, and promoting safer and more stable workplaces for workers across the supply chain. 

• Prohibits foreign leverage over the domestic meat market, empowering FTC to protect competition and national security; 

• Links the bill’s structural reforms to kitchen-table prices by focusing on unfair and unjustly discriminatory pricing practices in retail and wholesale meat markets that hit independent and neighborhood grocers hardest; 

• Authorizes the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide financial assistance, loan guarantees, technical assistance, and other support to farmers’ cooperatives and small business concerns that seek to acquire, operate, or expand meatpacking plants or facilities divested under the Act; 

• Makes failure to divest enforceable under the FTC act, backed by significant civil penalties. 

Joining Senators Welch and Schumer on this legislation are Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). 

Learn more about the Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act. 

Read and download the full text of the legislation. 

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