A new National Food Policy Scorecard that shows how members of the 112th Congress voted on issues including food safety, hunger, farm subsidies, organics, food labeling and more shows the top 20 spots are occupied by Democrats with100 percent voting records and the bottom 20 spots are all Republicans with voting records of 14 percent or less, three of whom, Rep. Steven Stivers (R-OH), Rep. Robert Turner (R-NY) and Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) have scores of zero percent. The scorecard was developed by Food Policy Action, a group whose stated mission “is to highlight the importance of food policy and to promote policies that support healthy diets, reduce hunger at home and abroad, improve food access & affordability, uphold the rights & dignity of food and farm workers, increase … [Read more...]
OMB Releases Report on Effects of Sequestration
On Friday September 14, 2012, the White House Office of Budget and Management (OMB) released a report on the possible effects of sequestration on food safety, Medicare, FBI, FAA, and education. Sequestration is the across-the-board cuts that will kick in if Congress does not pass a deficit reduction bill by early January 2013. The cuts are part of the Budget Control Act of 2011 that was signed into law after the debt ceiling crisis in August 2011. The White House states that "the sequestration itself was never intended to be implemented." It was supposed to be a way to prod Congress into action. While there is still time for Congress to put a plan in place, House Republicans announced last week that the House will be in recess until November 13, 2012. The report states that, "no … [Read more...]
Time Running Out For 2012 Farm Bill
Partisan issues have kept Congress from taking on the 2012 Farm Bill and now time is running out. GOP leaders decided not to schedule it for floor action next week, which leaves Congress just four legislative days to consider the $957 billion bill before it adjourns for the August recess. The decision drew head scratches from some and anger from others including Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), House Agriculture Committee ranking member. “There is no excuse not to bring the farm bill to the floor. We’ve wasted the last two weeks on political messaging bills that are going nowhere. If the House Republican Leadership were serious about creating jobs and growing our economy they would bring up this bill. There is no good reason to put one of our nation’s economic bright spots, the rural economy, … [Read more...]
