Getting Meat Off the Hook

摘要

With the end of the pandemic in sight, it's a good time to take a look at the meat & poultry industry's legal responsibilities - and how it's seeking to evade them. Not just ones related to the pandemic, either. "Evade" is a harsh, loaded term, I know. The lobbyists on whom Tyson Foods spent nearly a million dollars in the first three quarters of 2020 would probably frame it as something like "informing lawmakers of the industry's priorities." But there is little doubt that one big priority is staying out of court whenever possible. That's why Congressional debate over the second coronavi-rus stimulus went down to the wire just before Christmas. The Republicans were holding out for blanket legal immunity for all U.S. businesses related to COVID cases, so that no worker or customer could sue; they dropped that demand only when Democrats agreed not to push for bailouts for state and local governments. Speculation at press time was that Republicans will seek to revisit the issue in 2021.