13 House Republicans won't express support for school lunch program

by: desmoinesdem

Sat Mar 06, 2010 at 17:39:21 PM PST

H.Res.362 [...] expresses the House's support for the goals and ideals of the National School Lunch Program and "recognizes that our pupils deserve access to high-quality, safe, and nutritious meals in school." It passed 403-13, every Democrat and 155 Republicans, including the entire GOP congressional leadership voting in favor.

The roll call reveals the shameful list of 13 Republicans who voted against this resolution: Todd Akin (MO-02), Paul Broun (GA-10), Jason Chaffetz (UT-03), Jeff Flake (AZ-06), Virginia Foxx (NC-05), Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Doug Lamborn (CO-05), Cynthia Lummis (WY-AL), Tom McClintock (CA-04), Ron Paul (TX-14), Ted Poe (TX-02), James Sensenbrenner (WI-05), and John Shadegg (AZ-03).

Usually when a House vote is that lopsided, I can count on Representative Steve King (R, IA-05) to be on the embarrassing end of the roll call. However, I'm happy to report that even the occasionally mean-spirited, uncompassionate, clueless, dare I say cartoon-villain-like King recognizes that "our pupils deserve access to high-quality, safe, and nutritious meals in school."

Senate Agriculture Committee will get new leader next year

by: desmoinesdem

Tue Feb 02, 2010 at 11:44:32 AM PST

Assuming Lincoln loses, either to a Democratic primary challenger or to a Republican in November, the Senate Agriculture Committee will be needing a new chair in January 2011. Currently, Democrats are expected to retain a majority in the Senate, which would put Debbie Stabenow of Michigan in line to chair the Agriculture Committee. Republicans have a slim chance at winning enough seats to take over the Senate this November. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia would be the likely new chair, since is the ranking Republican on the committee now, but it's possible that the GOP caucus could shuffle things around.

Government Works: Putting America Back To Work

by: Curtis Abbey

Sat Nov 14, 2009 at 09:07:00 AM PST

A year ago it was chaos, it looked as if the economy was going to implode. Like many generations before us we learned the lesson that an unregulated market builds bubbles. On the inflate many get rich off of transaction fees and rising asset values. When the bubble pops the negative feedback loops or vicious cycles are devastating. We saw the transferred devaluations move from housing values to Wall Street securities and from there to all sectors of the economy. Autos, small banks, 401ks, mutual funds, university endowments. It wasn't clear when the wave would stop but we knew something had to change. The government's normal economic tools were used up after too many bubbles and they were wrong in scale for the job. As a last resort the government stepped it up with once in a lifetime moves like TARP and the ARRA also known as the stimulus. Yet 9 months after the stimulus was passed it's critics are fiercely attacking it. They say it's not working, it's wasteful, it should stop.

Food safety bill may not clear Senate this year

by: desmoinesdem

Sat Oct 10, 2009 at 12:52:02 PM PDT

The Senate has been bogged down in the debate over health care reform, and Harkin said his staff is tied up working on other must-pass bills. He said he hoped to have the committee take up the bill in December, but he assured her the issue wouldn't die.

"We're going to get it done," he said.

Recent food scares linked to peanut butter and other products have spurred interest in Congress in increasing the FDA's authority. Michael Taylor, a senior adviser at the FDA, told the victims and their families that the agency was poised to tighten its regulation of foods if Congress would just pass the legislation. "The forces have come together," he said. "Society is finally ready to deal with this problem."

Speaking about food safety legislation last month,

Harkin said he expected the committee's bill to be a modified version of legislation introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. Like the House bill, Durbin's legislation would give the Food and Drug Administration more authority over the 80 percent of the food supply - everything but meat and poultry - that the agency regulates. The administration would be required to inspect processors more often, and processors in turn would face new regulations for controlling against pathogens.

But the Durbin bill omits a key feature of the House-passed bill: a $500 fee on processors to offset the cost of increasing the administration's budget.

Scott Faber, a lobbyist for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, told Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register that he thinks this bill has less than a 50/50 chance of getting through Congress. The Grocery Manufacturers Association supported the food safety bill the House approved in June, but Faber observed, "As we get closer and closer to the [2010] election it makes it harder to move legislation."

New Food-Related Bills in Congress

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Oct 06, 2009 at 08:31:18 AM PDT

Dairy
H.R. 3674: Milk Import Tariff Equity Act - This is a GREAT bill that would slap a tariff on the Milk Protein Concentrates (MPCs) that come from other countries to undercut American dairy. This was also introduced into the Senate as S. 1542 by Chuck Schumer.

School Lunch
S. 1737 by Sen. Al Franken, to increase the number of children eligible for free school lunch. The companion bill is H.R. 3705 by Keith Ellison of Minneapolis.

S. 1693: The Safe Food for Schools Act by Kirsten Gillibrand. This bill seeks to correct current flaws in the government that have proven troublesome in keeping tainted food out of school lunches.

H.R. 3625: Food Marketing in Schools Assessment Act by Carolyn McCarthy. This bill calls on the Secretary of Education to study and report on the marketing of food and beverages in elementary and secondary schools.

H.R. 3277: Student Breakfast and Education Improvement Act by Gwen Moore of Wisconsin. This bill provide grants to expand the school breakfast program.

Food Safety
S. 1527: Unsafe Meat and Poultry Recall Act introduced by NM Senator Tom Udall. This bill gives the USDA authority to recall tainted meat and poultry.

H.R. 3624: The Poison-Free Poultry Act by Steve Israel. This bill bans the uses of roxarsone (an arsenical) in poultry. Roxarsone has already been banned in Europe for 10 years.

Food Stamps
H.R. 3587: Nutritious Food for Health Families Act by Mark Schauer of Michigan. This bill reduces the interval between issuances of food stamp benefits from a maximum of 40 days to a maximum of 17 days.

Labeling
H.R. 3317: Trans-Fat Truth in Labeling Act by Steve Israel. This bill requires labeling of trans fats even when amounts are under 0.5g. Currently, if a product contains less than 0.5g of trans-fat, it is allowed to claim itself trans-fat free.

Dead Zones
H.R. 3650: Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2009 by Brian Baird of Washington. This bill is to research and reduce the algal blooms that lead to hypoxic conditions and dead zones in our waterways. And to reduce the algal blooms, we must reduce agricultural and municipal run-off.

Biochar
S. 1713: Water Efficiency via Carbon Harvesting and Restoration (WECHAR) Act, introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Breastfeeding
H.R. 3626: The Exemplary Breastfeeding Support Act by Carolyn McCarthy of New York. This bill is to support and promote breastfeeding.

Seeds
H.R. 3299: Seed Availability and Competition Act by Marcy Kaptur. This bill is "To require persons who seek to retain seed harvested from the planting of patented seeds to register with the Secretary of Agriculture and pay fees set by the Secretary for retaining such seed, and for other purposes."

Racism and Discrimination
H.R. 3623 by Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama. This bill provides compensation for claimants in the infamous Pigford case, a case in which the USDA discriminated against black farmers. Some farmers have been compensated already, but far too few received compensation, and the issue is still outstanding.

Ron Paul Crazy Stuff
H.R. 3395: Health Freedom Act. This bill would basically remove any limitations on what supplement manufacturers could claim on their labels. Wanna say vitamin C cures AIDS? Go for it. Under this bill, someone would have to take you to court and prove that you were wrong in order to make you take that off your label.

Will Congress force EPA to approve higher ethanol blends?

by: desmoinesdem

Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT

Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) are reportedly considering (sub. req'd) offering amendments to [a major appropriations bill to] force the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the blend level [for ethanol in gasoline] above the current 10 percent maximum as an amendment to the EPA appropriation bill. The corn-state senators would like to see blend limits raised to 15 percent, and E&E reports that it looks likely that the potential amendments would block funding for the EPA if they don't move forward on raising the blend limit. [...]

But the EPA faces opposition to increasing ethanol levels in gasoline from environmentalists, livestock producers, refiners, and other groups. Concerns have been raised about whether most engines can handle higher blends, and recent studies indicate that the use of ethanol may increase global warming. The general impression among opponents of the higher blend is that it doesn't really benefit anyone other than the corn lobby.

I hope Congress will let the EPA make this determination based on all the relevant factors. I understand that senators like to protect major industries in their home states, but increasing the ethanol blend limit isn't even universally good for farmers. As Sheppard indicates, conventional livestock producers could end up paying higher prices for feed.

An Update on Congress (Including a Batshit Crazy Bill by Ron Paul)

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Aug 06, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT

• The Senate debated Ag Appropriations
  
• The House debated the Food Safety Enhancement Act (I wrote about this last week but the link here gives you the official transcript).
  
• And debated it some more.
  
• The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) wrote up a report on the Food Safety Enhancement Act
  
• Sen. Schumer wants to get milk protein concentrate out of our dairy products (yay!!!)
  
• Sen. Udall of New Mexico introduced a bill that would authorize the USDA to mandate a recall of tainted foods.
  
• Ron Paul introduced a bill about health claims on food labels.

  The Ron Paul bill reads as follows:

  The Federal Government may not take any action to prevent use of a claim describing any nutrient in a food or dietary supplement (as such terms are defined in section 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321)) as mitigating, treating, or preventing any disease, disease symptom, or health-related condition, unless in a final order of a Federal court following a trial on the merits finds clear and convincing evidence based on qualified expert opinion and published peer-reviewed scientific research that--

  (1) the claim is false and misleading in any material respect; and

  (2) there is no less speech restrictive alternative to claim suppression, such as use of disclaimers or qualifications, that can render the claim non-misleading.

  Translation: If this bill were to pass (it won't), you would be able to label a package of Twinkies to say that they cure AIDS, so long as nobody takes you to Federal court and proves that you're lying. And even then, the result might be that you are allowed to keep the claim so long as you add a disclaimer like "Scientific evidence has not found any evidence that this is true."

Boswell gives livestock industry's perspective on antibiotics

by: desmoinesdem

Tue Jul 14, 2009 at 05:36:00 AM PDT

1. Science doesn't support blaming the livestock industry for antibiotic resistance. "Pound for pound, humans and their pets use 10 times the amount of antibiotics used in food animal production."

2. "America's livestock, dairy and poultry producers [...] are committed to using antibiotics responsibly and have developed responsible-use guidelines for each of their respective industries."

3. By removing some classes of antibiotics from the market, H.R. 1549 "would require antibiotic sponsors to prove again what has already been proven during their initial FDA approval" and would leave livestock producers with "few, if any, medicines to prevent and control animal disease."

4. Denmark has seen more disease and piglet mortality in its swine herd since a ban on preventive and growth-promoting use of antibiotics went into effect. That has increased the use of therapeutic antibiotics to treat sick animals.

5. Pigs that have been sick during their lives "have a greater presence of food-safety pathogens on their carcasses." Public health could be undermined if we eliminate animal antibiotics.

6. The 2008 Farm Bill provided for more USDA research on antibiotic resistance, and the Animal Drug User Fee Amendments of 2008 require the FDA to collect more information about antibiotic sales. Those provisions should be allowed to work before Congress removes products from the market, as H.R. 1549 would.

Post any relevant comments or rebuttals in this thread.

A Sad Political Observation

by: Jill Richardson

Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 20:00:00 PM PDT

No doubt the public health community, consumer advocates, parents, doctors, etc, have been for these reforms for quite a while. Big business was against them, and until now, they always got their way. But you know what's sad? It seems that the ONLY reason this stuff is (probably) going to pass now is because Big Business is either supporting the bills, or at least not actively opposing them. In other words, with a major Democratic majority, doing the right thing still isn't happening just because it's the right thing to do - and Big Business still calls the shots.

Details below.

Carolyn Maloney to reintroduce Breastfeeding Promotion Act

by: desmoinesdem

Fri May 15, 2009 at 08:55:54 AM PDT

  * Add breastfeeding mothers in the workplace as a protected class under the Civil Rights Act of 1964
  * Provide incentives for employers to have private lactation areas for workers
  * Create a performance standard for breastpump equipment
  * Create tax deductions for pumping equipment

Here is some information about the economic benefits (for employers as well as employees) of helping working mothers to breastfeed.

Here's how you can help Representative Maloney:

1. Ask your Congress-critter to co-sponsor the bill.

2. If you live close to Washington, D.C., please plan to attend a press conference about the bill on June 3rd at 11:30 am on the Cannon Terrace at the Cannon Office Building, Independence Avenue and 1st Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. Please RSVP to wchappel@myexcel.com with the number of adults/babies/children attending.

3. After the press conference, visit your representative's office to ask them to support the bill.

4. E-mail wchappel@myexcel.com immediately "if you have a workplace lactation discrimination story you would like to share at the press conference."

On a related note, I just learned last week that many health insurance plans cover the purchase of a breast pump. Pregnant women with insurance should look into this, because a quality breast pump can easily cost $300.

Joshua Segall The Farmers' Market Candidate for Congress

by: Curtis Abbey

Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 00:47:45 AM PDT

Joshua was defeated in his first attempt to unseat Bush-Republican Representative Mike Rogers last fall. But this week the rematch was announced.

"It's time for a new direction. I am a fiscal conservative who will work to create and attract 21st Century jobs to east Alabama so that hardworking people can get ahead," said Segall.

"Alabama is suffering under irresponsible policies that bail out greedy executives who created this mess and leave hardworking Alabama families holding the bag. Rogers supported the Wall Street bailout, but did nothing for Main Street Alabama. He voted to send Alabama jobs overseas, when what we needed was a plan to create good jobs at home. It's time to stand up to special interest politics and put Alabama families first once again," said Segall.

CREW Names 2008 Most Embarrassing Re-Elected Members of Congress

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Dec 09, 2008 at 08:00:00 AM PST

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA)
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA)
Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA)
Rep. Don Young (R-AK)

In the words of CREW, this list includes "those elected officials who have misused their position through illegal, unethical or just plain outrageous conduct." You can see the full report on what they did to earn their spots on the list here.

Note that Gary Miller's name is on the list. He's from CA-42 in Orange County, the district where my friend Ron Shepston ran in the Democratic primary this past election cycle. Unfortunately, the primary winner Ed Chau was not able to take out the corrupt incumbent Miller, despite the overall Democratic landslide around the nation in 2008. What will it take for America to throw these bums out????

Oh, by the way... no relation between me and Laura Richardson. I swear.

Congressional Committee Turnover

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Nov 09, 2008 at 16:39:03 PM PST

Unlike the Senate, the House DOES have some turnover - not a ton, but some. Here's who will no longer be with us in the 111th Congress:

Ag Committee
Nancy Boyda (D-KS)
Nick Lampson (D-TX)
Tim Mahoney (D-FL)
Robin Hayes (R-NC)
Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)
Randy Kuhl (R-NY)
Tim Walberg (R-MI)

Let's hope we can replace these seven with a few folks who actually support organic agriculture!

Ag Appropriations Sub-Committee
Ray LaHood (R-IL)

Education and Labor Committee
Ric Keller (R-FL)
Randy Kuhl (R-NY)
David Davis (R-TN)
Tim Walberg (R-MI)

Getting Ric Keller off that committee is a WONDERFUL thing. I'm sure nobody will miss him - except for the fast food companies.

All in all though, it was rather shocking going through these names on Election Day and actually seeing how little turnover there really is in our elected representatives. Most incumbents win their elections. I'm sure these committees will change a little more than this in the end, but really for the most part, their composition will stay the same.

How to Lobby Congress

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Oct 24, 2008 at 02:16:09 AM PDT

The false promise of traceability

by: JudithM

Wed Sep 17, 2008 at 20:30:29 PM PDT