Posted on 11/29/2010 3:29:21 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
Senate action on legislation revamping the nation's food safety laws will be delayed until Tuesday morning.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced Monday afternoon that two amendments (Coburn earmark ban, Coburn substitute that pays for food safety --- neither of which are expected to get the 67 votes needed for passage) and final passage of the food safety legislation will start at 9:00 am Tuesday.
The final bill is expected to pass. The House still must vote on the bill as well but is expected to pass without much difficulty
(Excerpt) Read more at politics.blogs.foxnews.com ...
B@$tard just got reelected...
Good point. ObamaCare has been delayed by several states, which gives me a little hope.
Every Senator agreed to skip a cloture vote.
Senators who will vote no on the bill (though they knew it would pass if cloture was skipped, but they voted for that) too.
I assume they agreed to skip cloture to protect RINOs who would have voted for cloture anyway. Now those RINOs can tell their voters they voted AGAINST the bill that passes.
The Senate is one continuing Kabuki show, nothing is real there.
Ping.
Toll free to DC: (866) 338-1015
BTTT
LORD, GOD ALMIGHTY, PLEASE PREVENT THIS TREASONOUS MONSTROSITY FROM BECOMING LAW, SOMEHOW. YOU ARE OUR ONLY HOPE, LORD.
The reason for this lame-duck Congress is to pass it while it can be passed. If they wait until January, the new Republican-controlled House would not support it. So they have to get it done while they still have big majorities. As Elvis Presley said, “It’s now or never.”
FWIW from Johnny Isakson (R-GA):
I originally supported the food safety bill that was passed by the Senate HELP Committee, because I believed it was a common-sense approach to updating our food safety and surveillance system. I have always opposed the extreme nature of the various House proposals and especially the bad ideas contained in HR 2749.
The bill passed by the Senate HELP Committee would modernize our outdated food safety and surveillance system that failed the American public by allowing events such as the salmonella outbreak at the PCA plant in Blakely, Ga., to perpetuate unchecked. The bill would improve inspections, records access and certification of large production food facilities. The provisions of the bill are scalable for small food producers and even give the Secretary of HHS the authority to exempt producers considered to be a lower risk.
I took great care to ensure that the bill passed by the HELP Committee keeps FDA off of the farm and does not affect small farmers or their ability to sell their products at roadside stands or farmers markets. The bill does nothing to regulate agriculture, as that is the responsibility of the USDA. The bill only addresses the food products currently regulated under existing food safety authorities—no new food category authorities have been added or created at FDA.
Contrary to widespread rumors, there is no reference in the Senate bill or any of the House bills that would make gardening at home illegal or criminalize sharing homegrown vegetables with family, friends or neighbors. Additionally, there is no language banning dietary or nutritional supplements.
During the vote on November 17, 2010, on the motion to proceed to the Senate food safety bill (S.510), it became clear that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) intended to substitute the bill passed by the HELP Committee (S.510) with a new draft.
The new version would include an amendment by Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), which would disadvantage small growers in Georgia. It also was rumored to contain an unspecified and unacceptable offset to the cost of the new programs in the bill.
Although I originally supported the bill passed by the HELP Committee, I voted against the motion to proceed to the bill on Nov. 17 because of the uncertainty that surrounded the vote and the apparent intentions of Majority Leader Reid to replace the bill with language that would have harmed Georgia farmers.
Of course.
I still think that powerful conservatives from House districts need to get on the phone and speak in harshly stern terms to the house members.
Just as I wrote my Senator to vote NO, for that very reason.
“Call your Senator and Congressman.”
We called them the first of this month. Now, we have to wait and see if they got the message and will do what we want.
I feel that most won’t and we will just have to call them again in 2012 and 2014.
I thought this thing went away about a year and a half ago. Pete Olsen told me back then that he would vote against it.
I thought this thing went away about a year and a half ago. Pete Olsen told me back then that he would vote against it.
I am so mad this is going to pass, but it’s going to pass.
They have managed to get enough fake amendments in there to make it appear better, but it still will kill small family farms.
Then again, flyover country is not friendly to Obama.
Also a Dem congressperson from Maryland?? (I think), has a spouse who is a big-wig at Monsanto.
I gets pretty ridiculous. You can be fined if you sell a sack of home-grown tomatoes to your neighbor, because you didn't follow FDA regs when you grew them.
Ugly stuff... and all the while we've been told that the LEFT is all about “Organically grown foods” and “eat local”, etc,etc,etc. They just want control. PERIOD
From the Heritage Foundation (My summary)
Massive expansion of food regulation.
Food supply has never been safer, thanks to technological advances and market forces. Granting new powers to FDA will raise cost of food, but will not increase consumer protection.
Food Safety Modernization Act would:
1.) Authorize FDA to dictate how farmers grow fruits and vegetables, including rules governing soil, water, hygiene, packing, temperatures, and what animals may roam which fields and when
2.) Increase inspections of food “facilities” and tax them to do so
3.) Grant FDA unilateral authority to order recalls
4.) Generate inevitable costs to consumers
5.) Expand FDA regulatory reach
6.) Require $1.4 billion between 2011 and 2015, according to CBO
7.) Cost private sector (not calculated) $100s of millions annually
Incident rates of food-borne illness have declined for over a decade, in spite of higher consumption of the raw foods most often associated with food-borne illness: 51.2 confirmed cases food-borne bacterial contamination per 100,000 people in 1996. 34.8 cases per 100,000 people.
Centralized Authority Ineffective
No centralized authority can “effectively oversee” the food market. America’s food supply system is a complex network of more than 2.2 million farms, 28,000 food manufacturing facilities, 149,000 food and beverage stores, and 505,000 restaurants and similar establishments. This bill requires the EPA to “participate” in food safety, which will not improve regulatory efficiency. New regulations will not fill gaps in the food safety system. Meat, poultry, and dairy products—common sources of food-borne illness—are regulated by the USDA and are not addressed in this bill.
Regulatory Overreach
SB510 calls for increased inspections of food facilities, and voluminous record-keeping requirements, but even if the FDA increased inspections sevenfold, improvements in food safety would not come from intermittent visits by regulators or their scrutiny of paperwork. The FDA systematically failed to apply scientific principles to its policies, which have rendered its actions futile bureaucratic exercises. 36% of FDA managers believe the agency keeps pace with scientific advances GAO survey. Requirements will prove unaffordable to small farmers and local producers. All food “facilities”—including home-based businesses are required to do periodic hazard analyses and produce “risk-based preventive controls.” Food imports will come under more stringent inspection, but, FDA records show these do not carry higher risk of contamination. Of 285 recalls and allergy alerts issued in the first nine months of 2010, only 16 (6%) involved foreign manufacturers. This legislation creates three grant programs: to schools for allergy management ($107 million); food safety training, education, outreach, and technical assistance ($21 million); and food safety participation for states and tribes ($83 million).
More Powerful Forces
Science and technology have delivered the greatest advances in food safety. Pasteurization, water disinfection, and retort canning, freed consumers from food transmission of botulism, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and cholera. The food industry, not regulators, standardized quality grading and pathogen elimination processes. Irradiation and bioengineering helped destroy pathogens and extend product shelf-life. If not for alarmist opposition to both, consumer acceptance would be greater—bringing broader health benefits. Market forces (competition, brand-name value, monitoring by financial markets and insurers, and common law) are powerful drivers of food safety. There are bad actors in every pursuit, but considering the size of the market, Americans enjoy a remarkably safe food system. Food-borne illness will always be with us. We are enveloped by microbes, and more than 200 known diseases are transmitted through food. Some 5,000 deaths are related to food-borne diseases each year, according to the CDCl. The most severe cases occur in the very old, the very young, and those with compromised immune system function.
This bill contradicts the message sent by voters November 2: Americans do not want and cannot afford more unnecessary regulation and expansion of government. This proposal constitutes a costly and ineffective answer to a manufactured crisis.
That is until they ban that too. EFF THEM!
” Americans do not want and cannot afford more unnecessary regulation and expansion of government.”
Indeed. Is there anything we can do to stop it?
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