Biden Does Not Support Banning Meat, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Says

Over the weekend, pundits on right wing media claimed President Joe Biden intends to stop Americans from eating meat as part of his efforts to tackle climate change.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack dismissed the rumors on Monday.

“There is no effort designed to limit people’s intake of beef coming out of President Biden’s White House or USDA,” Vilsack said during a virtual briefing hosted by the North American Agricultural Journalists. “Sometimes in the political world, games get played, and issues are injected into the conversation knowing full well that there’s no factual basis.”

The rumors claimed that Biden’s recent pledge to control greenhouse gas emissions involved decreasing red meat consumption by 90 percent and limit Americans to about four pounds per year.

Many Republicans went to social media to attack Biden. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) told the president to “stay out of my kitchen,” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) called Trump “The Hamburglar.”

“I’m pretty sure I ate 4 pounds of red meat yesterday,” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, sharing a graphic Fox News aired titled “Up In Your Grill: Biden’s Climate Requirements” and including false bullet points.

Last week, Biden set a goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030, but no specific percentages for the farm industry were detailed.