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Vice President JD Vance announced Monday that the Agriculture Department is putting about $57 million toward expanding meat processing across the country, including 10 facilities in Kansas.
Getting into it: Vance made the announcement at a rally in Topeka for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, saying the Kansas grants “could not have happened without Doc Marshall.” The USDA said the $57.4 million will be split into 147 grants across 40 states through its Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program, which gives smaller, independent processors a shot at growing and taking on the few big companies that run the industry.
Vance said more processing capacity means more competition, which he argued could help bring down beef prices. The money isn’t locked in yet, though, since the awards still need funding from Congress.
What’s going on now: In an announcement, Senators Jon Husted (R-OH), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Pete Ricketts (R-NE) introduced the “No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act,” a bipartisan bill aimed at banning the Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek from US government devices. The legislation seeks to prevent potential national security threats posed by the AI platform, which lawmakers argue could be exploited by the Chinese Communist Party for data collection and disinformation campaigns. If passed, the bill would grant the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director the authority to remove DeepSeek from government systems.
This all comes as many Americans are pissed about the rising cost of beef, with the average pound of ground beef hitting $6.79 in September, compared to $6.32 the year before, and steak prices up about 3.5%. It’s also the latest in a string of farm announcements Trump and Vance have rolled out on the campaign trail ahead of next week’s midterms, including $1.3 billion for domestic fertilizer production and an $8 billion program to help farmers cover high diesel costs.
In a statement, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said, “We are focused on rebuilding the Great American Cattle Herd, and providing more local processing opportunities will continue to give confidence to our ranchers to help us fulfill this goal.”
