Josh Riley Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Lower Egg Prices - Legislation Will Cut Red Tape to Lower Costs and Help Farmers

BINGHAMTON— Rep. Josh Riley (D-NY) introduced The Lowering Egg Prices Act with Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Pat Harrigan (R-NC), and Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI). This bipartisan bill will lower egg prices for consumers by cutting bureaucratic red tape that forces farmers to discard hundreds of millions of eggs each year.  

Federal regulations require farmers to refrigerate eggs immediately after they are laid. But that rule does not distinguish between table eggs (which are raw products that need to be refrigerated), and breaker eggs (which are pasteurized for use in everyday grocery products like salad dressing, cake mix, and pasta). 

This has forced chicken farmers to throw away nearly 400 million perfectly good eggs each year. That rule didn’t make sense when it was enacted, and it makes even less sense now, at a time when egg prices are too high and supermarket shelves are too empty.  

The Lowering Egg Prices Act will fix this problem by overturning the regulation and putting hundreds of millions of breaker eggs back on the market. 

“Families across Upstate New York are struggling to make ends meet because the grocery bills are too high,” said Congressman Josh Riley (D-NY). “My Lowering Egg Prices Act is a common-sense, bipartisan bill to take unnecessary regulations off the books, put hundreds of millions of eggs on the market, and lower your grocery bill.” 

“The FDA’s rule is a textbook example of government overreach making life more expensive for hardworking Americans,” said Congressman Pat Harrigan (R-NC). “For 15 years, this unnecessary regulation has forced businesses to throw away 400 million perfectly good eggs every single year. That’s over 6 billion eggs wasted—eggs that should have gone to breakfast tables, school lunches, and food banks. There is no public health benefit here, just pure bureaucratic nonsense that’s driving up costs. This bill stops the waste, lowers prices, and restores common sense.” 

“Eggs are an important staple for American families and businesses. While we search for solutions to stop the spread of the avian flu, we must take steps to bolster our egg supply and lower prices,” said Congressman Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.). “Reversing this Obama-era regulation would make hundreds of millions of eggs available in the market, easing the crisis and the burden felt by consumers. We need more yolks for folks.”

“The consistently rising cost of groceries continues to make things exceptionally hard for families in Michigan, and we need to do something about it. One solution we're putting forward is to get more eggs into the supply chain, which will bring down the prices you see at your grocery store,” said Congresswoman Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI). “We have to use every tool in the bag to put more money back in the pockets of working Michiganders.” 

Full text of the Lowering Egg Prices Act can be found HERE.