A fight over pig and poultry housing rules has moved from courtrooms and state ballot boxes to the Senate floor, after Sen. Roger Marshall withdrew his sponsorship of the Save Our Bacon Act and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman released a draf
In early June, Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas withdrew his sponsorship of the Save Our Bacon Act—an override meant to shut down state animal welfare laws. It was the first time in three years that Republicans broke from their push for the bill. giving critics a glimpse of what litigation and lobbying couldn’t: a real chance to stop the provision before it ever reached the floor.
Then Tuesday came the next jolt. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., released his version of the farm bill without the measure. The change didn’t end the fight, but it shifted the terrain. Supporters kept pressing for a “Prop. 12 fix. ” while opponents leaned hard into the uncertainty—piling on ads and arguing that the politics behind the bill are as consequential as the policy.
Supporters have long insisted the core issue is cost. The National Pork Producers Council pointed to a study from North Dakota State University. saying prices for Proposition 12–covered products rose nearly 20% in California. Critics counter that the number is inflated, citing U.S. Department of Agriculture data showing about 27% of producers are already compliant with the kind of rules at the center of the measure. without major disruption to markets.
The Save Our Bacon Act would do more than adjust enforcement. The bill would bar states from imposing livestock-housing standards on animals raised outside their borders. Lawmakers designed it to nullify two voter-approved laws: California’s Proposition 12 and Massachusetts’ Question 3. both of which set minimum space requirements for pigs. calves. and egg-laying hens.
That idea is already embedded in the legislative history—at least in the House. The U.S. House of Representatives folded the provision into its version of the 2026 farm bill and passed it in April on a 224-200 vote, largely along party lines.
In the Senate, though, the math has always been brutal. Boozman’s draft leaves the provision out, and even supporters acknowledge the likelihood is low that it can survive the Senate’s 60-vote supermajority rule. Proponents keep pushing anyway.
The political and legal background starts in 2018 and 2020. California voters approved Proposition 12 with more than 60% supporting it. Two years earlier, Massachusetts voters approved Question 3 with nearly 80% support. The court road then tightened: in 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold California’s law.
After that ruling, Marshall and Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa introduced the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression Act, or EATS Act, the same year—an effort intended to override both state laws. The initiative stalled. In July 2025, Hinson reintroduced the measure as the standalone Save Our Bacon Act.
At some point. it moved from a standalone bill into farm-bill language when the House folded the provision in and passed it in April. Even then, pressure remained uncertain in the Senate. Boozman warned that he didn’t have the votes to pass the bill in the Senate with the measure’s language still inside. He said he didn’t believe there’s “a single Democrat that would vote for it.”.
Marshall’s withdrawal in early June added a sharper edge. The move mattered not just because he’s a Republican sponsor. but because his office had been fighting for the measure since the original EATS Act. After stepping back. Marshall’s team told AG Bull Trading that he is now prioritizing year-round E15 ethanol sales and helping Boozman finish the farm bill. The Save Our Bacon Act still has plenty of Republican co-sponsors. but his decision signaled that at least some within the GOP are reconsidering how far they want to take this.
Rob Brenneman, president of the National Pork Producers Council, called the shift “disheartening,” saying Marshall was one of the strongest voices arguing against Proposition 12.
The lobbying fight has been both loud and expensive. The NPPC led a large coalition of 330 agricultural organizations in a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee leaders earlier this week, urging senators to include the Proposition 12 prohibition in the final bill.
Spending has also climbed. Sentient Media reported that the NPPC spent $260,000 in the first quarter of 2026 lobbying on the issue, among others. Responding to Boozman’s Tuesday draft, Brenneman said “it’s the Senate’s turn to deliver on a farm bill for all of rural America.”
He added that “while there is certainly room for improvement,” the chairman’s discussion draft was appreciated as a path forward, and he said that America’s pork producers will keep advocating for a Prop. 12 fix in the formal farm bill because “it does.”
Opponents, meanwhile, have tried to make the fight impossible to ignore. The American Meat Producers Association—a coalition of independent farmers and meat companies formed to counter the NPPC—launched a $30 million ad campaign. The campaign targeted TV, radio, and digital spaces, urging senators to keep the provision out of the final bill.
AMPA President Holly Bice called the measure “a poison pill” and said it would primarily benefit Smithfield Foods, the country’s largest pork producer, which is owned by a Chinese conglomerate, at the expense of independent family farms.
Bice said Boozman recognized the “corrupt ‘Save Our Bacon’ Act” as a poison pill by leaving it out of his draft. She added that the Save Our Bacon Act “saves China’s pork industry at the expense of American family farmers and producers,” a line delivered according to National Hog Farmer.
The road ahead is not a straight line, and it may not be a short one. Boozman said he would hold a Senate Agriculture Committee markup in July after senators return from the July 4 recess but before the chamber’s August recess. A markup is where bills can be debated section by section and changes proposed.
If the provision makes it through committee. it would move to the floor—where it would still need 60 votes to survive a filibuster. If the Senate passes a version without the provision while the House version keeps it. the chambers would then have to reconcile differences in a conference committee before the bill could go to the president’s desk.
Supporters of the Save Our Bacon Act could still try to win the provision back through process. Boozman, or another Republican senator backing the measure, could offer a floor amendment to include it. But the practical power sits with the Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Without her support—and with only a handful of other Democrats backing the idea—the bill is unlikely to reach the 60 votes it would need to pass.
Right now. the fight over pigs and pork reads less like a settled policy debate and more like a test of whether power in Washington can overwhelm the states that voters approved. The numbers, the court history, and the ad spending all point to a measure that’s already proved politically combustible. And with Boozman’s draft leaving it out and Marshall stepping away from sponsorship. the question facing the Senate isn’t whether supporters want the provision—it’s whether they can still find a path to win it.
Save Our Bacon Act Roger Marshall John Boozman Proposition 12 Question 3 Senate Agriculture Committee 2026 farm bill NPPC American Meat Producers Association Smithfield Foods Amy Klobuchar EATS Act E15 ethanol