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S.510 
Tue Jan 04, 2011 at 22:12:39 PM PST
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After nearly 2 years of work by Congress on this specific bill and decades of advocacy for food safety reforms in general, Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act into law today. If nothing else, it shows how much patience and stamina one needs to follow anything in Congress through to the end. The bill went through so many twists and turns that by the time it finally passed, I wasn't even sure exactly what was in the final version, even though I had a general idea. Again and again during 2010, I got frantic emails that the bill was headed to the Senate floor "this week" or "next week" and after a while, those emails seemed like the Boy Who Cried Wolf, because it never happened. But then, right before Christmas, it happened. And Obama signed it.
I don't believe this bill will fix the food system, which is still, by and large, based on the same enormous farms, processing facilities, manufacturers, and corporations as it was before. And, of course, so many of the pathogens that cause food safety problems stem from enormous livestock operations that were not included in this bill at all. But this is a start. It's not nothing.
And, hopefully, it won't hurt any of the farms and small businesses that we love. While there was obviously heated debate over the impact this bill would have on small producers, the best evidence that it will be OK (or as good as possible) is the statement that was sent out by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (pasted below). NSAC was originally and nearly to the end quite worried about the bill's impact on small and sustainable producers, and they worked with the Senate until they reached a compromise that they could live with. Details of that compromise are below.
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Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 00:52:33 AM PST
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Here's a list of what just passed, to the best of my knowledge:
1. Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell
2. START treaty
3. Tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, i.e. "compromise"
4. The Shark Conservation Act (no more finning in US waters!)
5. The food safety bill
6. The Child Nutrition reauthorization (i.e. school lunch)
7. Aid to 9/11 first responders
8. Extending the federal budget til March
Did I get it all there?
OK, well first... what do you notice about this list of bills (perhaps leaving the Obama tax "compromise" beside)? None of them have any real enemies. There isn't a "We Hate 9/11 First Responders" lobby, with the exception of perhaps Bin Ladin himself (and if Congress is being influenced by him we have bigger problems on our hands). Nor is there a pro-E. coli lobby. And now even the top military brass is for the repeal of DADT.
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Tue Nov 30, 2010 at 09:13:20 AM PST
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S. 510, the food safety bill, finally passed the Senate. The vote was 73-25. This bill is not yet a law, however. The House can pass the Senate bill, OR the two chambers can meet and work out their differences in conference, and then both the House and the Senate will need to pass the bill one last time. At that point it would go to Obama's desk, and he would most likely sign it.
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Fri Nov 19, 2010 at 10:52:51 AM PST
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First off, it's official: Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is the new Ag Committee Chair in the Senate. PHEW. BIG sigh of relief. This is wonderful news. She's not exactly Dennis Kucinich but she's a HUGE improvement over Blanche Lincoln, and there were fears that Ben Nelson or Kent Conrad would take the chairmanship instead of her, which also would have been worse.
Second, the Senate Republicans are playing all sorts of stupid games with the Food Safety bill - stuff that has nothing to do with food safety - and so the bill is stalled yet again. And now the Tea Party has started sending around frantic action alerts about how S. 510 is an evil government take over of your food and Glenn Beck is freaking out about it too.
Apparently, on Monday they will take votes on Coburn's bullshit amendments, and those votes will require a 2/3 majority which they won't get. Then they'll debate for a bit, have a cloture vote to end the debate (60 votes needed), and vote on the bill (simple majority needed). Stay tuned. And thanks to Naomi Starkman, Elanor Starmer, and Carol Tucker-Foreman for their help in navigating this very confusing process.
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Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 14:39:56 PM PST
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I've got two sets of news from DC. First, genetically engineered salmon. Alaska Senator Mark Begich (D) has introduced two bills, which have also been introduced in the House by Alaska Congressman Don Young (R). One simply stops the FDA from legalizing the GE salmon. The second says that if it's legalized, it must be labeled.
Second, food safety news. My inbox is FLOODED with news about this and it seems that Senator Tester has spoken on the floor of the Senate on behalf of small farmers. Here is what an email I received said about the state of the compromise taking place on the Tester Amendment.
Consumer groups and the bipartisan authors of S.510 have all agreed to compromise language for the Tester Amendment. That means the amendment will either be included in the manager's package (and would therefore become part of the overall bill), or it will be voted up or down as a stand-alone amendment.
The compromise differs in three respects from the most recent version of the amendment:
· Language has been added that gives FDA authority to withdraw an exemption from a farm or facility that has been associated with a foodborne illness outbreak.
· The distance from a facility or farm that is eligible to be a "qualified end-user" has been reduced from 400 miles to 275 miles.
· Language clarifying that farmers' market sales are "direct-to-consumer" for FDA's purposes has been revised to avoid creating unintended consequences (the effect is the same).
A summary of the revised amendment is online: http://tester.senate.gov/Legis...
Revised language is online: http://tester.senate.gov/Legis...
So, with all of that taken care of... will there be a vote? All eyes are now on Sen. Coburn.
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Wed Nov 17, 2010 at 15:30:20 PM PST
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If you want the short version, here it is: They won't vote on the food safety bill (S. 510) today.
The slightly longer version is that there's been a compromise after over a year of bickering. Some farms and processors will be exempt from some parts of the bill if they sell up to 275 miles from where that food is grown or processed. Also, the definition of what "retail" is has been clarified in a way that everyone likes. If the FDA believes there's a problem, they can check it out and, if necessary, remove the exemption for the problematic operation. I do not have more details on this (yet) but I think the important part is that EVERYONE agrees to it.
The only bad news here is that Dianne Feinstein tried to get a vote on her BPA ban amendment, and then the American Chemistry Council stepped in and killed it. DiFi made an excellent floor speech, which I will try to get a transcript of, and sent out a statement, which is below. I hope that, without any action on BPA from Congress, the FDA steps in to deal with BPA.
With all of that behind us, now we need to wait until tomorrow. If nobody filibusters, they could vote on it tomorrow. If Coburn still wants to stand in the way of this, it could drag out longer.
Can I just say: I hate the Senate.
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Wed Nov 17, 2010 at 14:55:12 PM PST
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Which company would you rather be in?
Organizations that support the Food Safety bill, S.510:
Consumers Union
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Food Marketing Institute
Consumer Federation of America
National Restaurant Association
General Mills
National Association of Manufacturers
International Dairy Foods Association
American Public Health Association
Grocery Manufacturers Association
American Bakers Association
International Foodservice Distributors Association
National Consumers League
American Frozen Food Institute
National Confectioners Association
Snack Food Association
Trust for America's Health
Produce Marketing Association
United Fresh Produce Association
American Beverage Association
American Farm Bureau Federation
American Veterinary Medical Association
Kraft Foods North America
Safe Tables Our Priority (STOP)
Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention
National Fisheries Institute
Pew Charitable Trust
International Bottled Water Association
National Coffee Association
Organizations that Oppose S.510:
American Grassfed Association
National Family Farm Coalition
Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Weston A. Price Foundation
The John Birch Society
Raw Milk Association of Colorado
Farm Family Defenders
Small Farms Conservancy
National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
This information came from Govtrack.us
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Wed Nov 17, 2010 at 10:45:26 AM PST
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The food safety bill is on the floor of the Senate now. They've already voted for cloture, which means that nobody is filibustering this bill. The cloture vote was 74 to 25 and you can see it here.
I will post updates as they occur.
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Thu Sep 16, 2010 at 21:22:35 PM PDT
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Food safety ain't happening before November 2. That's the news. Several times this year, I've gotten frantic emails that the bill - S.510 - was coming to the Senate floor "any day" or "next week" or "this work period" and urgent action was needed. Then, each time, the Senate pushed the bill further back on its schedule. This bill, by the way, has already passed the House. It passed the House well over a year ago.
This week, the emails ramped up to a fever pitch. It was expected. What with the recent egg recall, food safety was in the news. Passing the food safety bill was an obvious next step. We knew the Senate was hoping to bring the bill to the floor after the August recess, so it made sense when the emails started coming in, suggesting that the bill was surely up for a vote at any moment.
Then Tom Coburn (R-OK) decided to block the bill. He says it "adds to the deficit and expands the power of an already troubled agency." As of a day ago, there was still hope:
"We hope within the next 24 hours [Coburn] will say yes," Reid said. "That's where we are."
But now this:
Harry Reid: I talked to Sen. [McConnell] ... he thinks that something should be done. But - we spent a whole Congress on this and at the last minute, he comes in and likely we're not going to be able to get [food safety] done before... elections. What a sad thing for our country. People are dying as a result of these problems with food. And it's just a shame that we can't get this done... We have almost 400 matters that have passed in the House of Representatives and we can't deal with them here because the Republicans say no. That's not the way to do business. In years past these things would have gone through really easily.
UPDATE: Coburn's a doctor. Wonder if he remembers ever promising "I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure." You know... the Hippocratic oath...
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Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 20:53:27 PM PST
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There are a number of food-related bills in Congress, which I report on occasionally. Most of them are introduced only to die a slow, quiet death in committee. It's encouraging to see action taken on any of them, as it shows that a bill may actually move forward. So here's what's happened lately:
S. 510 - The Food Safety Modernization Act: This bill is a mixed bag, as it gives us more food safety at the potential expense of small and sustainable producers. Progress has been made toward the requests of the sustainable ag community and people differ over whether they feel that the food safety needs justify supporting the flawed bill's passage, or whether they want to see the bill killed entirely. I expect this bill to ultimately pass Congress and the only question is how good (or bad) it will be for sustainable producers in the end. The bill just passed committee, which means the next stop is the Senate floor. Its already passed the House, and it just picked up a new co-sponsor, Sen. Bingaman in the Senate.
H.R. 1084 - The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act: This bill will require commercials to play at the same volume as the TV program they appear during. It just passed out of committee, which means its next stop is the House floor.
S. 850 - Shark Conservation Act - This fantastic bill would close up loopholes to prevent shark finning. The companion bill already passed the House in March, and the Senate version just passed this week. It also picked up new co-sponsors, Senators Snowe, Vitter, Rockefeller, and Bayh. I've pasted some information about the bill from Pew Environment Group below, and you can send an email to your Senator asking them to support the bill here.
H.R. 1523 - Ban Poisonous Additives (BPA) Act: This bill will ban BPA from food containers. It just picked up new co-sponsors, Rep. Louise Slaughter and Rep. Barney Frank. That brings it up to 60 co-sponsors in the House. The Senate version, S. 593, just picked up the support of Sen. Shaheen, bringing it up to a whopping total of 5 co-sponsors.
S. 619 - The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act: This bill says that if a class of antibiotics is important in human medicine, you can't use it on livestock that aren't sick (nontherapeutic use). You can still treat sick animals. This bill just picked up a new co-sponsor, Sen. Akaka.
H.R. 4022 - The Gulf Oyster Protection Act: This has to do with the recent flap over the FDA trying to regulate raw oysters due to food safety concerns. The bill has new co-sponsors Rep. Meek (D-FL) and Rep. Putnam (R-FL).
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 10:58:48 AM PST
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The food safety bill, S. 510, passed unanimously out of the Senate HELP committee. The next step will be a vote on the floor of the Senate. Consumers Union has put out a statement praising the committee for passing this. Meanwhile, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition put out the press release below.
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Mon Sep 28, 2009 at 10:33:38 AM PDT
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A friend received a response about food safety from CA Senator Dianne Feinstein. It's very vague. Here's what she had to say:
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