Monsanto Rider Passes Senate

The Monsanto Rider, Sec. 735, passed the Senate on Wednesday, March 20, 2013. It was included in the Continuing Resolution (CR) that will fund the government through September of this year. The House is expected to pass the bill.

The Center for Food Safety is condemning the inclusion of this rider, which they call a “corporate earmark” in the CR. No hearings were held on the biotech rider and many Democrats on the committee that approved the CR didn’t know it was included in the bill. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee did not bring the rider in front of the Agriculture or Judiciary Committees, as they usually would.

Andrew Kimbrell, who is the Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety, said in a statement, “in this hidden backroom deal, Senator Mikulski turned her back on consumer, environmental, and farmer protection in favor of corporate welfare for biotech companies such as Monsanto. This abuse of power is not the kind of leadership the public has come to expect from Senator Mikulski or the Democratic Majority in the Senate.”

If the House passes the bill, the rider will only be in effect for the next six months. The Center for Food Safety is going to “launch a major campaign to make sure this deception is not included in the next round of appropriation bills.” Sec. 735 is opposed by many food safety, environmental, and consumer advocate organizations, including the Environmental Working Group, Consumers Union, Public Citizen, and the National Farmers Union.