mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
as my colleagues noticed , this is about marketing essentially , and it is about the fact that an entire industry was created in places like texas to take advantage of cheap mexican calves , bringing them across the border , fattening them up , and selling them in our food system without any knowledge of where they come from . 
born , raised , and processed means we are proud of usa agriculture , usa livestock . 
there is an unintended consequence , mr. chairman . 
the unintended consequence is the gentleman from texas 's ( mr. ortiz ) xz4003020 very own state loves the country-of-origin labeling that was mandated by that same farm bill on fish . 
i will read one more time that quote : `` it 's a win-win situation for texas , '' said agriculture commissioner susan combs . 
`` texans love to buy texas products , and this way they 'll know they 're getting the quality they love . 
in turn , sales will increase , providing a boost to texas shrimp producers and the state 's economy. '' they love it when it works to their advantage . 
they are opposed to it when they think it might change something . 
this is a good piece of legislation . 
it may not , it may not be a health issue to the gentleman from texas , but it obviously is a health issue to some of our trading partners . 
on december 23 , when the cow was found in the state of washington that had mad cow disease , it took exactly 24 hours for 60 of our trading partners to shut off our exports , 60 of them . 
one-third have now reopened those markets . 
our largest export market has not , and that is japan . 
so it is a health issue with them . 
the problem that exists right now , and it was very quietly done , but on may 21 , as i mentioned before , the state of durango in mexico can no longer send live cattle to the united states along the texas border because they were mixing cattle between two regions within their state , one that has the ability to be exported and the other that does not . 
these are the trading partners that are sending us their livestock that we do not have the ability to label where it came from . 
unfortunately , bovine tb is contagious , infectious , and a communicable disease . 
it affects cattle , bison , deer , elk , goats , and other species , including humans , and it could be fatal . 
we want to know where our livestock came from . 
is it so simple that we can not understand that we currently exempt some of the issues or some of the products like beads and ball bearings and bolts and nuts and buttons , feathers , hair nets ? 
there are not many exceptions to the labeling laws in this country : rags , ribbons , screws , sponges , wicking , candle , and livestock . 
livestock because it is about the pocketbook . 
i am here to stand before the members today and ask them to support the amendment . 
give us the opportunity to show that labeling livestock will be met with the same kind of enthusiasm by the consumer and those of us who are truly cattle producers . 
i am a producer . 
i still have to deal with this . 
perhaps i will have to pay for it . 
but i know the american consumer will want the opportunity to purchase my livestock because i know where it came from . 
it is a closed herd . 
it was born , it was raised , and it is processed in america . 
that is what makes america great , is the opportunity to label . 
voluntary does not work . 
if voluntary worked , we would be doing it now . 
but it does not . 
why ? 
because the meat processors and the supermarkets will not allow us the opportunity to have it labeled . 
they say they can . 
they say they might . 
but we can not make them , and when we can not make them , we have no influence nor ability to do it . 
fruits and nuts will soon have country-of-origin labeling as well . 
it has been allowed to move forward , and what they did is they segregated our support for country-of-origin labeling . 
they let the fish go . 
the texas producers love it . 
they let fruits and nuts go . 
california and the rest of the producers will like it . 
but they will not let livestock go for purely economic reasons . 
it is time we send a message to those that are standing in the way and allow us the opportunity to tell the american consumer born , raised , and processed in america means something . 
buy american . 
