WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill released the following statement after her work, along with other Senators representing rural states, successfully forced the U.S. Labor Department to withdraw proposed rules that would affect the ability of young adults to work on family farms and ranches:

"It took longer than it should have, but I'm glad to see the bipartisan work to instill some common sense has finally paid off, and Missouri farm families will have one less thing to worry about. Federal agencies in Washington shouldn't be deciding whether and how our kids and grandkids can work on their family farms and ranches where the values of hard work and responsibility are learned every day."

The Department of Labor announced today that it has withdrawn the proposed labor rules.

McCaskill has consistently spoken out against the proposed rules, successfully demanding more time from the Labor Department for input from families in rural communities, and later joined a bipartisan group of Senators in demanding that the Department drop the proposed rules.

McCaskill was also a leading supporter of the bipartisan Preserving America's Family Farms Act to prevent the Labor Department from enacting the controversial proposed restrictions on youth working on family farms and ranches.

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