Hey Blanche, Na Na Na Na... Na Na Na Na... Hey Hey Hey...

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Mar 01, 2010 at 20:37:26 PM PST

This means a lot to progressive Democrats as a whole because Lincoln's often the would-be 59th or 60th vote to break a filibuster, making her one of the single biggest reasons why health care reform has not passed yet. In fact, the House has passed 290 bills that the Senate has not passed so far this session, and Lincoln is one of the single biggest reasons why nothing gets done in the Senate.

But this election means something significant for food and agriculture too. As the chair of the Senate Ag Committee, Lincoln will be in charge of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization (i.e. school lunch) this year. That's not great. But if she's re-elected, she'll get to write the 2012 Farm Bill. And that will be REALLY bad.

Lincoln's beholden to cotton, rice, factory farms (particularly poultry), and Wal-Mart. If she loses in 2010, she'd likely be succeeded by Debbie Stabenow of Michigan as the new chair of the Senate Ag Committee. We'll get a significantly better Farm Bill from Stabenow than we would from Lincoln.

Fortunately, Lincoln's chances of winning are slim:

Recent polls have shown Lincoln trailing a little-known Republican field led by Rep. John Boozman and her being potentially vulnerable to a challenge from within the Democratic Party.

So what can we do to help Halter?

1. Spread the word (especially to people in Arkansas)
2. Volunteer for his campaign (phonebanking or canvassing). If you don't live in Arkansas, you might be able to phonebank for him from home.
3. Donate to his campaign, even if it's only $5. The sooner you do this, the better. I've added Halter to our Act Blue page so you can give to him through there if you'd like.

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.

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."

Lincoln looking vulnerable in 2010

by: desmoinesdem

Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 14:41:10 PM PDT

On the other hand, this poll was in the field before yesterday's Senate Finance Committee hearing on the health care bill, during which Lincoln was one of three Democrats who refused to back both public health insurance option amendments. That probably won't go over well in Arkansas, where a strong majority of voters support "creating a government-administered health insurance option that anyone can purchase to compete with private insurance plans."

Lincoln's re-election campaign will be generously financed by corporate interests; she has already pulled in a lot of money from healthcare industry. Big agribusiness will be there for her as well, and probably Wal-Mart and the Chamber of Commerce too, since Lincoln now opposes the Employee Free Choice Act (after voting for that pro-labor bill in 2007, when she knew President Bush would never sign it).

Corporate money could get Lincoln re-elected, but if the economy continues to be weak and the Democratic base is uninspired to lift a finger to help her, she could have a very tough road. MoveOn is already running ads against Lincoln.

I don't normally post here about campaigns and elections, but I thought the La Vida Locavore community would want to know that there's a very real chance the Senate Agriculture Committee will be choosing a new chair (Debbie Stabenow?) in early 2011.

Senate Prospects for 2010

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Sep 20, 2009 at 15:19:13 PM PDT

Senate Unanimously Cuts Funding for NAIS

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Aug 04, 2009 at 22:25:12 PM PDT

Call to Action: Cut NAIS funding

by: JudithM

Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 05:00:00 AM PDT

The costs of NAIS, in both time and money, will drive many sustainable livestock farmers out of business and place heavy burdens on people who are simply trying to raise food for themselves or their local communities.

Right now, we have an opportunity in the Senate to cut back on the funding for NAIS, an important step in stopping this program.  Please keep reading and take action!

The 60th Vote

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 15:17:02 PM PDT

We had 59 "Democrats" if you count those with a D next to their name plus independents (to the left) Bernie Sanders and (to the right) Joe Lieberman. And that's also counting newly minted "Democrat" Arlen Specter, who switched parties recently but swore he would not shift any of his positions or votes as a result of that switch. And then there are "Democrats" like Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, and Blanche Lincoln who seem to forget that being a Democrat means supporting things like access to affordable health care for all Americans or a right for workers to organize.

When Al Franken takes his seat, we'll technically have 60 Senators in the Democratic Caucus, which means that we can override any Republican filibuster... but only if ALL of the Democrats actually vote like Democrats. This gives the DINOs (Democrats in Name Only) and moderate Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins far too much power, as they can make whatever demands they wish in exchange for their support in overriding filibusters.

Mr. rossl goes to Washington

by: rossl

Sat Mar 28, 2009 at 22:13:54 PM PDT

It was a great trip.  I feel like I actually do have a bit of power in this corrupt, mangled political system of ours, and I'd love to tell you why.

Feingold Makes a Statement on Dairy Bill

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 22:47:26 PM PDT

A bill to allow modified bloc voting by cooperative associations of milk producers in connection with a referendum on Federal milk marketing order reform.

What I do know is that dairy is heavily influenced by a big, bad cooperative. It seems the Feingold bill S.665 allows individual members within cooperatives to vote on issues separately from the cooperative if they wish.

He also introduced S.666 to prohibit products with ultrafiltered milk, milk protein concentrate (MPC), or casein from being labeled as "domestic natural cheese" (great bill!) and S.667, which is about milk pricing.

Meanwhile, Tom Vilsack plans to make a "major dairy announcement" tomorrow (Thursday). While I've been generally happy with Vilsack, he's making the announcement before the IL Farm Bureau, and that worries me.

Meet Your Leaders: Dick Lugar (Emphasis on DICK)

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PDT

Lugar is on the Ag committee and he's the ranking member of the Foreign Relations committee. In addition to his obvious influence in food issues on the ag committee, the foreign relations committee makes decisions about U.S. food aid to other countries.

Lugar is an odd bird when it comes to ag policy. He was raised on a 600 acre farm and he boasts that he saw yields triple in his lifetime using agricultural chemicals and GMOs. He also feels that wildlife flourishes on his farm and that proves as justification that chemical ag does no harm to the environment. He stands for a lot of things I'm against, but he also manages to piss off groups that I strongly oppose like the Farm Bureau. So - the enemy of the enemy is...??? In this case, I don't think he's my friend.

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More Non-Help for Africa, Courtesy of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Mar 24, 2009 at 11:16:30 AM PDT

Here are the true things they said (most of the rest after this is B.S.):

• There are 800mil to 1bil hungry people in the world and 2/3 of them are in Sub-Saharan Africa and S. Asia.
• The world's population is growing
• Many of the hungry are farmers in Africa, many of whom are women, uneducated, and powerless.
• Farmers in Africa lack water for irrigation, petroleum-based fertilizer, GMO or hybrid seeds, pesticides, electricity, and any machinery whatsoever. 70% also live more than 30 minutes walking distance from the nearest road, effectively cutting them off from any markets.
• Global hunger is not just a moral issue, it's also a national security risk.
• White House leadership will be critical in any effort fighting global hunger.

After that, we started to get into chemical-ag-public-relationsland. More below the flip.

Throw the Hungry Under the Bus First

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Feb 06, 2009 at 17:56:28 PM PST

I've been following the stimulus coverage kind of loosely, but it seems that Obama's finally taking his message around Congress, directly to the American people. At the same time, the Republicans don't want a stimulus at all, mainly because if it works Obama will get credit and if it fails they will share the blame. They've proposed a bullshit alternative "stimulus" which is basically just more of the same stuff that we've already seen fail during the Bush years - tax cuts to corporations and capital gains. Sorry "Main Street" - Republicans don't give a damn about you.

So how's that working out, given that the Republicans are in the minority? More below...

Vilsack unanimously confirmed as Secretary of Agriculture (updated)

by: desmoinesdem

Tue Jan 20, 2009 at 17:40:52 PM PST

The Sunday Des Moines Register ran an article featuring Drake University Law Professor Neil Hamilton, who predicted that Vilsack will do more to reform the US Department of Agriculture than some of his critics anticipate:

His critics see Vilsack as "coming from only part of agriculture, and I don't think that probably is accurate," Hamilton said in an interview after Vilsack's Senate confirmation hearing last week. Hamilton, who has long been an advocate of locally grown food systems, a priority of Vilsack's critics, attended the hearing and chatted with the former governor afterward.

Hamilton persuaded Vilsack as governor to form a state food policy council to promote local food systems, among other ideas.

At last week's Senate confirmation hearing, Vilsack promised to do more to promote local foods.

Discussing Vilsack's record on agriculture issues, Hamilton told the Des Moines Register that

Vilsack couldn't have been expected to be anything but an advocate of biotechnology or ethanol when he was governor. "It would have been hard to be the governor of Iowa, just as it's hard to be the senator from Illinois, without being a supporter of ethanol," Hamilton said in a reference to Obama, a leading supporter of corn ethanol as an Illinois senator.

"The fact that you can see a role for genetic modification and science in agriculture doesn't necessarily mean you don't also see an opportunity for local food and organic" agriculture, Hamilton continued. [...]

Hamilton said he is "very confident that whether it's a year, two years, or four years, that most of the people" who signed the Food Democracy Now! petition "will be impressed and pleased" with Vilsack.

Hamilton was one of the six potential nominees for secretary of agriculture on the Food Democracy Now! petition. He is also one of the "sustainable dozen" that Food Democracy Now! is recommending for undersecretary posts within the USDA.

Those senior appointments will set the tone for Vilsack's tenure. I have no idea whether any of the "sustainable dozen" have a chance to be hired. Unfortunately, Jill Richardson reported recently that some strong advocates for industrial agriculture are being considered for high-ranking USDA positions.

For now I am willing to give Vilsack the benefit of the doubt. I greatly respect Hamilton, who knows the Iowa governor well.

However, if senior USDA posts go to people with strong ties to agribusiness like Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff or Joy Philippi, former president of the National Pork Producers Council, then it will be time to follow the Russian maxim: "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

UPDATE: Vilsack will hire John Norris (an early Obama supporter in Iowa) to be his chief of staff at the USDA.

More Reasons to Love Tom Harkin

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Nov 16, 2008 at 00:35:25 AM PST

S.771: A bill to amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve the nutrition and health of schoolchildren by updating the definition of "food of minimal nutritional value" to conform to current nutrition science and to protect the Federal investment in the national school lunch and breakfast programs.

If I've got the facts right, you can't serve "foods of minimal nutritional value" in schools, but the way they define "foods of minimal nutritional value" allows you to basically serve whatever you want. Cheetos? Mountain Dew? No problem. Under government definitions, those aren't foods of minimal nutritional value (so what is? tree bark?). Good on Harkin for proposing this! Unfortunately, after gaining 32 co-sponsors, it went to the Ag committee and died there.

More below.