Supporting struggling cattle ranchers was the “single most discussed topic” in Senate Republicans’ lunch with Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal.
Vance joined the Senate Republicans’ lunch Tuesday to discuss upcoming votes against President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but according to Cruz, the primary topic of discussion was Trump’s plan to increase importation of Argentine beef in order to lower prices for consumers.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association opposes Trump’s plan, saying it “undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentine beef.”
“It was a vigorous discussion, and JD was listening and hearing the strenuous views from multiple senators,” Cruz said.
There was “unanimity in the room that we should be standing strongly with our cattle ranchers,” according to the Texas Republican.
“Obviously, in Texas, cattle ranching is a huge business and provides for a lot of livelihoods,” Cruz said, “and I think Texas beef is the best in the world.”
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told reporters senators gave Vance an “earful” about the plan.
But Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told reporters he thinks Vance said that the Trump administration hasn’t “firmly determined to purchase beef from Argentina.”
“They want to bring down the price for consumers,” he said.
Hawley told The Daily Signal that no specific action points for supporting ranchers were discussed, but he proposed a solution of his own.
“I would start with taking some of that tremendous tariff revenue and redirecting that to farmers, including ranchers,” he said. “It’s going to be like $300 billion this calendar year. It’s a gob of revenue. So why not spend $20 billion of that on farmers?”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week that Trump hears the concerns of cattle ranchers who say his decision to buy more beef from Argentina is bad for business.
“The president loves our ranchers,” she said in response to a question from The Daily Signal, “and he also loves American consumers, and he wants to do right by both.”
Trump’s short-term solution is to import more Argentine beef to increase our supply and lower costs, Leavitt said.
“The immediate solution to the problem of the rising cost of beef—the president wants to bring that down—is we have to increase our supply,” she said. “So, that’s what he’s doing with respect to these imports. The president also is looking out for our ranchers with a long-term plan that was released by the secretary of agriculture yesterday.”
