On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a cloture motion on the beleaguered FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, according to Food Safety News.
As anyone who has been following the bill knows, this is not an insignificant development. Reid has said on several occasions that he wanted to take up the bill by this or that date – most recently before the Senate recessed for elections – but has failed to schedule debate or a vote.
The bill has support from Democrats, Republicans, consumer advocates, and the food industry. However, Reid had to file cloture on the bill, because Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) objected to an attempt to bring the bill to a vote under unanimous consent. Because of Coburn – who lodged his grievances with the bill only recently even though it cleared the committee stage in 2009 – the Senate will have to debate the bill and hold a procedural vote before passing it, a more time-consuming process.
Read the rest of the OMB Watch article here.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Senate Could Vote on Food Safety Bill after Elections
Senate Could Vote on Food Safety Bill after Elections; OMB Watch
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4 comments:
Is this the one that subjects natural medicine to the FDA that John McCain (like all 90s Republicans) reversed his stance on after 9/11?
This document is over 270 pages and I haven't read the whole thing, but I don't remember anything about herbs directly. But lets say you did raise herbs as part of your family business, then the FDA, HHS, DHS, DOD, and the USDA can all come on to your property and shut you down, if they "deem" it necessary.
You'll note the word "deem" is being used more and more in Congressional bills giving US agencies broad power to interrupt what the they deem appropriate. Scary stuff.
Another element of concern has to do with Dick Durbin failure to read the bill he sponsored. I heard yesterday on the radio an interview with Durbin where he said he never read the bill and doesn’t know the particulars. What kind of an ignoramus is this guy? He sponsors a bill and doesn’t read it!
For the past 100 years or so it seems our politics are becoming more like British and European politics.
European banking, British copyright law, European anti-free-market regulations and European high taxation all have replaced the original American versions.
Same with voting on bills into law - handled by the party rather than the individual representative, which is how European parliamentary systems work, where all voting is based on party seats rather than the representative (he/she must obey/represent the party's vote).
Note also how Britain lacks a written Constitution but instead "builds on the Magna Carta" (similar to how our Supreme Court works with interpreting the Constitution). Thus they were able to get away with more privacy rights violations since 9/11 than we were here, and it is major spy camera central today.
I don't know why this is the direction of this country but it just seems to be going on.
I can't say I do either, but when I examine the growing police state measures, most originate in England and make their way to Australia and Canada, then to the US. Definitely too much Anglo influence in our country.
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