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For Immediate Release
June, 21 2012, 03:02pm EDT
Contact:
Anna Ghosh, 415-293-9905, aghosh(at)fwwatch(dot)org
Senate-Passed Farm Bill Misses the Mark on Improving Food System
Statement by Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter
WASHINGTON
"Today, the U.S. Senate passed a farm bill that left the largest agribusiness and food processing companies firmly in control of America's food system. The giant companies that buy crops and livestock and manufacture processed food, and grocery stores that sell to consumers, remain firmly in the driver's seat under the Senate farm bill.
"There has been a complete lack of Senate leadership on the continued consolidation of the entire food and farm sector, which harms farmers and consumers. The few amendments that were offered to improve livestock markets -- Senator Grassley's packer-ban and Senator Enzi's livestock market reform amendment -- did not make the list for floor consideration.
"The nearly two-year farm bill process was shrouded in secrecy and rarely saw the sunlight of public participation. The legislation, based on last-year's confidential proposal to the deficit reduction super-committee, received scant scrutiny by the Agriculture Committee and the public. The nearly trillion-dollar legislation was finalized after only three hours of Committee consideration -- about $90 million a second.
"One of the rare bright spots in the Senate debate came when the Senate considered an amendment to allow states to require labeling of genetically engineered foods. Consumers overwhelmingly support the right to know whether their food contains genetically engineered ingredients. Although Senator Sanders' amendment did not prevail, the Senate's consideration of GE labeling is long overdue."
Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
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The Trump administration isn't letting its unconstitutional war with Iran stop its illegal boat-bombing campaign in Latin America.
US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said on Friday that it had conducted yet another lethal boat strike on a suspected drug boat traveling in what it described as "known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific."
While SOUTHCOM initially said that three men survived the Thursday strike, a spokesperson for the US Coast Guard subsequently told CNN reporter Zachary Cohen that two of the men on the boat were killed, while a lone survivor was rescued and taken into custody by authorities in Costa Rica.
According to Cohen, at least 160 people have so far been killed by the Trump administration's boat strikes, which several legal experts have described as illegal acts of murder.
The latest strike on a suspected drug vessel came on the same day Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the commander of SOUTHCOM, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Trump administration's boat-bombing spree is "not the answer" to the drug addiction crisis in the US.
As reported by The New York Times on Thursday, Donovan told lawmakers that the strikes are "probably not the most effective" tool to combat illicit drug trafficking, and said he was developing a more comprehensive plan to stop the flow of drugs into the US.
Human rights group Amnesty International slammed Donovan for carrying out another strike even while acknowledging their negligible impact on the drug trade.
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Brian Finucane, senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, expressed concern that the Trump administration's Iran war was distracting from the other illegal killing it is carrying out.
"This lawless killing for content cannot become mere background noise," he wrote.
A coalition of rights organizations led by the ACLU last year sued the Trump administration to demand it release documents that provide legal justification for its boat-bombing campaign.
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With just a month until a key Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act spying power expires, US House Speaker Mike Johnson was planning to try to push through reauthorization legislation next week, but the Louisiana Republican leader is now reportedly delaying the vote while "still dealing with a dozen or so Republican members who want reforms."
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