Food safety bill headed to president's desk

by: desmoinesdem

Tue Dec 21, 2010 at 16:28:53 PM PST

Anyway, President Barack Obama is expected to sign the food safety bill soon. Consumer and sustainable agriculture advocates worked hard to strengthen this legislation. Now watchdogs need to keep an eye on the rule-making process and enforcement of the inspection and recall provisions.

Committee Turnover in Congress

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 21:17:41 PM PDT

I've also gone through and made a list of which Blue Dogs stay and go. And many more are going than staying. This election - and the loss of so many Blue Dogs to Republicans - made the Democratic party better, but it made the Congress worse.

The biggest impact will be to the House Ag committee. Out of 27 Democrats that went into this election, 21 of whom were Blue Dogs, only 12 will be returning to Congress, 10 of whom are Blue Dogs.  

Committee Turnover in Congress

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Nov 02, 2010 at 18:59:23 PM PDT

The following is a list of members of Congress, by committee, who will not be back in January either because they lost, retired, or ran for a different office than the one they had before.

Senate

Agriculture:
Blanche Lincoln (Walmart-AR) - Lost to John Boozman (R)

Ag Appropriations:
Robert Bennett (R-UT) - Lost in primary
Kit Bond (R-MO) - Didn't run, replaced by Roy Blunt (R)
Byron Dorgan (D-ND) - Retiring
Arlen Specter (D-PA) - Lost in primary

House

Agriculture: (Farm bill, Food safety-USDA)
John Boccieri (D-OH) - Lost
Bright, Bobby (AL-02) - Blue Dog, lost
Travis Childers (D-MS) - Blue Dog, Lost
Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA) - Blue Dog, Lost
Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) - Blue Dog, Ran for Senate, lost.
Debbie Halvorson (D-IL) - Lost
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) - Lost
Steve Kagen (D-WI) - Lost
Frank Kratovil (D-MD) - Blue Dog, Lost to Andrew P. Harris (R)
Betsy Markey (D-CO) - Blue Dog, Lost
Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) - Blue Dog, Lost
Zachary Space (D-OH) - Blue Dog, Lost

Ag Appropriations:
Sanford Bishop (D-GA) - Blue Dog, Lost
Allen Boyd (D-FL) - Blue Dog, Lost to Steve Southerland (R)
Lincoln Davis (D-TN) - Blue Dog, Lost to Scott DesJarlais (R)

Education & Labor: (School lunch)
Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) - Lost to Frank Guinta (R)
Joe Sestak (D-PA) - Ran for Senate
Michael Castle (R-DE) - Ran for Senate, lost in Primary
Phil Hare (D-IL) - Lost. This one hurts.

Energy & Commerce: (Food Safety-FDA)
Roy Blunt (R-MO) - Won for the Senate
Steve Buyer (R-IN) - Retiring
Bart Gordon (D-TN) - Blue Dog, Retiring, seat won by Diane Black (R)
Baron P. Hill (D-IN) - Blue Dog, Lost to Todd Young (R)
Charlie Melancon (D-LA) - Blue Dog, Lost
George Radanovich (R-CA) - Retiring
John Shadegg (R-AZ) - Retiring
Zachary T. Space (D-OH) - Blue Dog, Lost
Bart Stupak (D-MI) - Retiring, seat won by Dan Benishek (R)

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."

Food Safety Bill Will Be Voted on Tomorrow or Wed

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 13:49:48 PM PDT

To pass under suspension of the rules, a bill must receive the support of 2/3rds of the members voting, a quorum being present. A quorum for purposes of suspensions is 218. If all members are present and voting, we will need 290 YEAs to pass the bill.

I don't know why they are using these special rules, but I have heard from at least one source that we will probably have the votes to pass the bill. What is most important to us right now is to ask our legislators to please support the Farr-Kaptur amendment to the bill, so that the bill is as non-harmful as possible to small producers who do not pose much threat to our food system.

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.

House Passes Budget Increases for FDA! (Thank You Rosa DeLauro!)

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Jul 10, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) told DeLauro that "We're stealing our grandchildren's future by spending so much money," and introduced an amendment to keep funding levels the same. (Wait - wasn't he the guy who wanted to make 2010 the Year of the Bible? Are we supposed to pray the E. coli away?) DeLauro replied that Broun's proposal "in fact would put this agency back in jeopardy. We just cannot afford to neglet our food safety system any longer." Hell yeah, Rep. DeLauro!!!

(I have an idea for Broun - why don't we save our grandkids' money by no longer buying more F-22 fighter jets for the military... these things are the ultimate pork. They have parts made in 44 different states, so Congress keeps ordering more planes to create jobs in their states even though the military says NO MORE F-22s! The F-22 was made to fight the Soviets - but it's not just that they are outdated. They are also complete crap. They only fly an average of 1.7 hours at a time before breaking down! Let's use the money the House just set aside for F-22s for food safety instead.)

Back to the FDA budget story, here's some more info on the budget from the WSJ:

Much of the increase in funding will target food safety initiatives, an area where the FDA has faced numerous challenges in the last year amid concerns as to how the agency responded to a variety of foodborne health problems involving peanuts, pet food and hot peppers. Rep. DeLauro said it will allow the FDA to review more food that enters the country's borders and hire an additional 1,150 foreign and domestic inspections.

Credit Default Swaps To Be Regulated By The Agriculture Committee?

by: Curtis Abbey

Sat May 30, 2009 at 01:08:16 AM PDT

What does this have to do with agriculture? The CFTC is one of two regulatory bodies competing for the role of CDS regulator. The CFTC, Commodities Futures Trading Commission is overseen by the House Agriculture Committee.

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.