ACTION ALERT UPDATE
Senate passes Continuing Appropriations Act with shocking give aways
Earlier this week the United States Senate passed budget continuation legislation containing a shocking give away to big meat packers and biotech seed companies.
– The biotech rider strips federal courts of their authority to halt the sale and planting of illegal Genetically Modified (GM) crops and compels the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to allow continued planting of these crops. This is essentially backdoor approval for GM crops when federal courts find them harmful.
– The Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA) rider includes anticompetitive language blocking USDA from writing rules to implement and enforce the Packers and Stockyard Act.
Montana Senator John Tester proposed two amendments that would have removed both pieces of language from this bill. Tester’s GIPSA amendment was co-sponsored by South Dakota’s Senator Johnson.
Unfortunately, the Senate Leadership gathered enough votes for a procedural maneuver that effectively prevented Senator Tester from even offering his amendments. As a result, there will be no vote on the Tester amendments and the Senate Appropriations Bill will include both pieces of bad language.
Now, the bill goes back to the House for a vote where the two bad amendments originated and is expected to pass.
Both provisions are set to expire on September 30th, however, it is still too soon to know the real impacts these two amendment will have in the next 6 months on GM crop plantings or poultry & livestock producers who count on competition rules to level the playing field with big meat packers.
Dakota Rural Action will continue to work with ally groups to ensure these provisions are not made permenant and will keep you updated on any developments and actions you can take.