Free Republic

Routine food inspections aren't getting done because of the partial government shutdown, but checks of the riskiest foods are expected to resume next week, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. The agency said it's working to bring back about 150 employees to inspect riskier foods such as cheese, infant formula and produce. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the agency can't make the case that "a routine inspection of a Nabisco cracker facility" is necessary during the shutdown, however. The FDA doesn't oversee meat and poultry and those inspections are continuing. Gottlieb said FDA inspections would have ramped up this...

What If the Tea Party Wins? They Have a Plan for the Constitution, and It Isn’t Pretty Download this issue brief (pdf) Read the issue brief in your web browser (Scribd) In the Tea Party’s America, families must mortgage their home to pay for their mother’s end-of-life care. Higher education is a luxury reserved almost exclusively to the very rich. Rotten meat ships to supermarkets nationwide without a national agency to inspect it. Fathers compete with their adolescent children for sub-minimum wage jobs. And our national leaders are utterly powerless to do a thing. At least, that’s what would happen...