The USDA's highly unpopular National Animal ID Program suffered a setback recently, according to Meatingplace:
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has proposed cutting new funding for the National Animal Identification System from the 2010 spending bill, saying the federal government has spent too much money on a program that has yet to be implemented effectively.
As chair of the House Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee, DeLauro controls the purse strings of the USDA. She has been (and still is) a proponent of a mandatory national ID system, something that small farmers and ranchers insist will put them out of business - all but removing consumers' choice for meat, eggs, and dairy that aren't factory farmed. However, she feels that the USDA has been wasting the money they been given over the years to implement the program ($142 million since 2004), and she's sick of throwing money away on it.
Right now the USDA is conducting listening sessions around the country (in which the vast majority of feedback they've gotten about the program is very negative), and DeLauro stated on her website:
"Until USDA finishes its listening sessions and provides details as to how it will implement an effective ID system, continued investments into the current NAIS are unwarranted."
(h/t Naomi Starkman) |
