By
Sarah Foster
November 24, 2010
NewsWithViews.com
40 Votes Needed – “FDA Food-Control” Bill NOT a Done Deal. Melt those phone lines folks!
You’ve probably heard that a vote’s coming up Monday in the Senate on S. 510: the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act and that the fix is in for passage.
As
it turns out, it’s not quite a done deal. The
National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association has sent
an Action Alert announcing there will be another vote first
-- a 
vote
for Cloture to MOVE the bill to a final vote.
For that next-to-last step supporters need sixty – that’s 60 -- votes. If opponents can muster just 40 VOTES they can stop S. 510. The problem is that a high number of Republicans in both houses like this bill, presumably because it makes them feel like they’re doing something to promote food safety. There were 22 cosponsors, eight of whom were GOP.
That’s bad news. But note: Republican Saxby Chambliss, the senior senator from Georgia and a co-sponsor -- voted against the bill in its progress through the upper chamber and has indicated he will continue to oppose it. They do change their minds.
Tea Partiers, constitutionalists, small-farming advocates, and liberty activists are urged to contact not only their own senators, but the senators in the list given below (link provided) and implore them NOT TO VOTE FOR CLOTURE.
And of course, request the senators that if the cloture vote succeeds and S. 510 moves to a vote, they should VOTE NO on the bill itself.
One final point: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid runs the show, and is bound and determined to get this bill passed into law. Do not be surprised at any surprises that pop up.
Alert from: National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association
22 November, 2010
—PLEASE BROADCAST—
Cloture
Vote on S 510 Monday, November 29-
Please Call the Senators Below
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 S 510 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.
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Please join NICFA, John Tate - President, Campaign for Liberty, Kristin Canty - Director of “Farmegeddon” the movie, and David Gumpert - writer of “The Raw Milk Revolution” and www.TheCompletePatient.com, in OPPOSING cloture and OPPOSING S 510.
ACTION:
1. Please call the Senators in this list - at their District offices - as well as your own two Senators, and tell them to oppose cloture and oppose S 510.
Yours for food freedom,
Deborah
Stockton, Executive Director
National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (NICFA)
nicfa@earthlink.net
http://www.nicfa.com
Earlier Stories
1-
Sarah Foster: FDA
Food Safety Bill Poised for Passage: Nov. 16, 2010
2- Sarah Foster: House
Set to Vote on Fast-Tracked "Food Safety" Bill: July 30,
2009
3- Sarah Foster: Will
Congress Wipe Out Home Gardens, Growers Markets? Mar. 23, 2009
4- Doreen Hannes: Cheese
Factory, FDA and Corruption: Nov. 13, 2010
5- Sarah Foster: Hey
Tea Partiers -- Where Are You?: Nov. 18, 2010
� 2010 Sarah Foster - All Rights Reserved
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Sarah Foster is a political researcher and freelance writer in Sacramento, Calif. She holds a B.A. in anthropology from U.C., Berkeley and a M. A in folklore-mythology from U.C.L.A. A regular contributor to NewsWithViews.com, her writings have also appeared in WorldNetDaily, Reason Magazine, Orange County Register, and other libertarian/conservative publications.
Sarah can be reached at: sarahfoster7433@att.net.
