I realize everyone is likely sick of calling Congress and being ignored, but if we can move 10 Senators to halt S510, we will have defeated a major issue in establishing statute for international food control. Harry said last week, "We've got everything in place except for the Food Safety Act". Granted, he didn't say what "everything" he was referring to, but it's one of the last areas necessary to get statute for to enforce global standards in this nation....Please act. The economic effects of this bill will seriously harm independent agriculture.
Cloture Vote on S 510 Monday, November 29-
On Monday, November 29, a cloture vote on Senate Bill 510 will determine if the bill then goes immediately to the Senate floor for a final vote. Cloture requires 60 votes. If there are fewer than 60, the bill will not go forward. Let's make sure the cloture vote fails.
PLEASE CALL ALL THE SENATORS IN THE LIST LINKED BELOW AND ASK THEM TO OPPOSE CLOTURE AND OPPOSE S 510.
The votes of these "targeted" Senators could make all the difference. Even if they are not your Senators, please call them at their District Offices and, using the Talking Points below, ask them to oppose cloture and oppose S 510.
Why Senators Should Oppose S 510
S 510 threatens the existence of small, independent farms and will limit the food choices of consumers. As written - even with the proposed amendments - the bill is fundamentally flawed. S 510 will not improve food safety. Instead it will bury farmers in regulations and paperwork and consolidate agricultural production into fewer, larger industrial facilities.
The FDA has authority to inspect processing plants and imports, yet it inspects less than 1% of imports and less than 25% of the processing facilities it is authorized to. FDA claims it does not have the resources to carry out these inspections, yet it has the time and personnel to harass Amish farmers, raid food clubs, and pull over individuals who are transporting privately purchased fresh milk and make them dump it on the roadside.
S 510 would increase the cost of U.S. grown and produced food and extend the authority of international trade agreements onto small farms. Inspections and audits of farming and harvesting processes will cost farmers in upfront expenses just to exist. Even if they are not participating in direct or local sales, they will have to assume the audit and inspection costs as well as develop HACCP type plans. Larger corporations will not need to buy from domestic growers - they can import from countries with lower infrastructure costs to offset the expenses S 510 regulations will force on U.S. producers.
There are many reasons to oppose S510, but the fact that the FDA has stated in court that you have no right to consume any particular food, no right to bodily or physical health, and no right to contract is sufficient reason to not give it any more authority over your food than it already has.
Please call your Senators and the other Senators listed below and tell them you are smart enough to decide what you want to eat:
Talking Points
• S 510 will eliminate the only productive sector of our economy - small farms and local food. The Tester amendment still puts additional paperwork, record keeping and scrutiny onto direct marketers.
• The FDA fails to do the job it is charged with doing. Tell FDA to inspect the imports and the plants it has the authority to inspect and stay out of farming.
• The rules and regulations the FDA will promulgate under S510 will harm our ability to get food that we want to eat. Tell FDA instead to require truthful labeling and disclose genetically modified products on labels. This would create a safer food supply and not harm the small family farmer.
• S 510 will create even larger governmental bureaucracy, and the estimated costs don't include costs to individuals who actually produce food.
• S 510 opens the door to violations of due process including illegal search and seizure and suspension of judicial review.
ACTION:
Please call the Senators in this list - at their District offices - as well as you own two Senators, and tell them to oppose cloture and oppose S 510.
Lamar Alexander - cosponsor R-TN - 202-224-4944 (423) 752-5337 (731) 423-9344 (865) 545-4253 (901) 544-4224
Judd Gregg - co sponsor R-NH- 202-224-3324 (603) 225-7115 (603) 622-7979 (603) 431-2171 (603) 752-2604
Mike Johanns - didn't vote R-NE- 202-224-4224 (308) 236-7602 (402) 476-1400 (308) 632-6032 (402) 758-8981
Lisa Murkowski R-AK - 202-224-6665 907-456-0233 907-271-3735 907-376-7665 907-225-6880
David Vitter -cosponsor R-LA- 202-224-4623 (318) 448-0169 (318) 325-8120 (318) 861-0437 (504) 589-2753
George V. Voinovich R-OH- 202-224-3353 (216) 522-7095 (740) 441-6410 (513) 684-3265 (216) 522-7095
Scott Brown - not reliable R-MA- 202-224-4543 (617) 565-3170
Susan Collins R-ME- 202-224-2523 (207) 622-8414 (207) 945-0417 (207) 283-1101 (207) 493-7873
Olympia J. Snowe - up for reelection in 2012 R-ME- 202-224-5344 (207) 622-8292 (207) 945-0432 (207) 282-4144 (207) 874-0883
Jim Webb - up in 2012 D-VA- 202-224-4024 434-792-0976 757-518-1674 703-573-7090 804-771-2221
Jon Tester - up in 2012 D-MT- 202-224-2644 (406) 252-0550 (406) 586-4450 (406) 452-9585 (406) 723-3277
Ben Nelson D-NE- h202-224-6551 (402) 391-3411 (402) 441-4600 (308) 631-7614 (308) 293-5818
Herb Kohl D-WI- 202-224-5653 (715) 832-8424 (920) 738-1640 (414) 297-4451 (608) 264-5338
Bill Nelson cosponsor, switched from yea to nay, up for reelection 2012 D-FL 202-224-5274 407-872-7161 305-536-5999 813-225-7040 561-514-0189
Kent Conrad D-ND - 202-224-2043 (701) 852-0703 (701) 258-4648 (701) 775-9601 (701) 746-1990
Tom Carper D-DE- 202-224-2441 (302) 573-6291 (302) 674-3308 (302) 856-7690
Claire McCaskill D-MO - 202-224-6154 314-367-1364 816-421-1639 417-868-8745 573-442-7130
Robert P. Casey, Jr. - cosponsor D-PA 202-224-6324 (215) 405-9660 (412) 803-7370 (866) 461-9159 (814) 357-0314
Sherrod Brown D-OH -202-224-2315 (216) 522-7272 (513) 684-1021 (614) 469-2083 (440) 242-4100
Please join: National Independent Consumer and Farmers Association (NICFA), Campaign for Liberty (John Tate – President), Kristin Canty - Director of "Farmegeddon" the movie, and David Gumpert - author of "The Raw Milk Revolution" and www.TheCompletePatient.com, in OPPOSING cloture and OPPOSING S 510.
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Why your talking points will make your readers look foolish:
ReplyDelete1. "S 510 will eliminate the only productive sector of our economy - small farms and local food. The Tester amendment still puts additional paperwork, record keeping and scrutiny onto direct marketers."
The bill explicitly states that paperwork not be burdensome and that any regulations be applicable to small business. Many will be exempt. The Tester amendment focuses the bill on large food processors. Farms are exempt.
2. "The FDA fails to do the job it is charged with doing. Tell FDA to inspect the imports and the plants it has the authority to inspect and stay out of farming."
That's exactly what this bill does. It sounds like you want it to pass.
3. "The rules and regulations the FDA will promulgate under S510 will harm our ability to get food that we want to eat."
You do not know the what the rules and regulations will be. They are yet to be written. Pessimism and information are not interchangeable.
4. "S 510 will create even larger governmental bureaucracy, and the estimated costs don't include costs to individuals who actually produce food."
The cost of foodborne illness to government, private sector, and the public, dwarfs the cost of the bill. The Congressional Budget Office estimated its cost at $1.5 billion over FIVE YEARS. Foodborne illness is estimated to cost this country $35 billion EVERY YEAR.
5. "S 510 opens the door to violations of due process including illegal search and seizure and suspension of judicial review."
To say that a law opens the door to the violation of law is oxymoronic.
Ah yes....Bulger, the food nazi from Marler's blog. Why YOU look foolish...
ReplyDeleteHave you never heard of an Un Constitutional Law??? S 510 is one of those. There is suspension of Judicial Review. Anyone who values freedom and due process is unable to remain seated at the idea that for no reason other than agency 'say so' the entire basis of our system of government is thrown away for the people who actually feed us.
Also, you fail to see the big picture as evidenced by history. And I simply don't have the time to go back to sixth grade with you and go over the establishment of agencies outside of the original Constitution and review the number of corporate players put into agency positions and the rules and regs they have promulgated, and the initiatives they have funded that led to market consolidation and lack of competition...aka the destruction of independent agriculture and a self supporting nation.