What he said. Well put there, SteveOB.

Teddy Roosevelt pushed through the Pure Food and Drug Act - and busted monopolies - he was such a socialist! Not.

The Tea Party's 'heroes' are quite insane by comparison.

The FDA should focus on the industrial scale producers where contamination may threaten many thousands of families.

Small farmers should NOT be required to submit safe-handling plans. They should instead be required to follow best management practices which should be published by FDA and posted on their website. Farmers found not in compliance with BMPs should be subject to being fined. Small farmers, especially the really small operators who sell at farmers' markets already have enough work to do. FDA must not add to it by requiring needless paperwork.

Make a real difference by sending a letter/email to FDA on the matter. When consumers overwhelmingly speak the FDA will listen. Personally, I don't like how far this could reach into smaller business becasue that is not where the problem is.

Good post Steve OB.
I agree with you as far as the coporate influence on public policy!!!
My belief is that when you go into something with intentions of not doing something right you are always going to have to look over your shoulders for those who would like the broken process corrected.
The process used amongst the FDA and corporations that lobby this organization is imbalanced. There is no one there to fight for the citizens interest!!! When you have this type of imbalance, an organization like the FDA loses it's credibility and the confidence of consumers and once lost it is ten times as difficult to regain that respect.
Not only is this being done here at the FDA but, it is done all across the board in the government and elsewhere. This does not make it ok since everyone else is doing it. It just creates a world of chaos and mistrust that makes the nation as a whole less credible to its citizens and others throughout the world.

Here is a good example...

In the NCAA where the schools have a system set up that rewards the colleges for what the athletes do instead of reward the athletes. The athletes feel as though they are being robbed of payment by the schools and the NCAA feels like they are loosing their grip with their organization. Because now the agents are paying the players and there is nothing that the NCAA can do.
Why???
They set their business model up to reward who they thought was important and to take advantage of the athletes. That is wrong of the NCAAA for taking advantage of the athletes and it is wrong for the government to piggy back on the NCAAA rules because they are actually taking advantage of others.
Now the NCAA looks like its back is broke and they don't know what to do about the issue with the player at Auburn.
So, this not only needs to stop at the FDA but in every other government agency there is. The government has to realize that they take the lead in a number of areas across the board. They are actually the true role model for all in this country. So, when they've been found to be questionable where ethics are involved it affects the attitude of the entire nation.
Others feel like they can be unethical and get away with it too and the vicous cycle begins.

Steve just left out one thing.

Another thing that greatly endangers our food supply is the fact that farm factory processing facilities have a huge portion of their floor staff composed of illegal immigrants.

Farm labor work is roughly broken up within the percentage of 74% American labor, 26% immigrants. So contrary to what people say outdoor farm work is mostly done by Americans. This is not true for processing facilities. That's one of the reason every time you hear about a huge ICE bust they are rushing one of these packing or processing plants. It's also a big reason why we have a huge risk with the food supply. You're letting largely uneducated, illiterate people handle your food before you put it on the stove and cook it for your kids and family members. Many of these people came from areas that didn't have running water or stable electricity. Do you think their hygiene standards are up to par? Do you think they clean the machines well?

Likening people dying from contaminated food to athletes being underpaid for playing sports is a pretty callous and shallow comparison.

Can't Americans differentiate between real problems and petty concerns? I guess not - we spend $213 billion a year on sports but give the FDA's Food Safety Inspection Service only $1.028 billion to cover our entire food supply.

Amazing how some people can bring illegal immigration into almost every topic imaginable. The city I live in has a few food processing plants, and yes they employ a large number of immigrants. ICE has been in more than once, and while there were a few illegals removed, the majority of the workers employed were working legally. I am not saying it doesn't happen, but please can we stay on topic?

RealAmericanfirst it is the same thing just different situation.

Even your name can be used in the same expample as I used the NCAAA!!!!
I can say that you did not put much thought into your name.
That you are not a real American especially if you're not Indian.
Me I have Indian in my blood and I just peeled another layer off of your back.

P.S. My how I love Competition!!!!
Don't take this to heart either it's all in good fun.

This isn't socialism. Also, the most vocal opponents of this are those crazy liberal locavores, vegetarians, and vegans, and we're always being called socialists. You can't have it both ways.

I'd much rather have profit-driven corporations in control of my food safety than a government regulatory agency.

(sarcasm)

James,

You should read Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle to see how profit-driven corporations handle our nation's food supply when left unchecked by government regulations.

I wonder why u throw around the word SOCIALISM LIKE THAT

Because it listens to too much TeaFarty BS.

madone,

You should read Meriam & Webster's book The Dictionary to see how the word "sarcasm" is defined.

Not if they are all sick from food poisoning....wake up..

A Conservative-601409-

Do reading your follow up replies answer your question? Fact is our political leaders have done such an efficient job at DIVIDING us against each other that instead of fighting the ones doing us harm we stay too busy fighting each other. R vs D vs I vs TP vs G.... it's like those running for office (and in office) are like cult leaders whom their followers blindly obey without question. They tell us what to think, what to buy, who to hate, how to hate, how to vote and keep us out of their way by setting us to chasing each other's tails and our own.

Know your enemy. It's not your neighbor. Meet that goal and the battle is almost won.

Another segment of American life and freedom about to come under the total control of Government----SOCIALISM. Do you suppose there are enough politically literate Americans left to rise up and fight back the march of socialism???

I would settle for the 'historically literate' rising up...unless repeating the history of the early 1900's is now a good thing??? Read a book or two on labor history in this country.

We shipped manufacturing overseas. OK. So you can't blame THIS mess on labor. We can't have 20% unemployment and expect a healthy consumer market here at home. Small businesses create jobs. Right - when, and only when, they are selling their products.

There was a time in this country when the idea of labor was to bring the rest of world up in terms of wages, not to bring us down to their level.

Not only should they watch FOOD, Inc ( which is probably the most important documentary of all time ), but they should also watch The Future of Food, The World According to Monsanto, King Corn and Food Matters.

It's really sad that the avg uninformed person has no clue that this is all about gaining control of the entire food supply in order to control the people and reduce the population.

Once we lose total control over our food supply and our freedom to choose what and how we eat we are literally DOOMED. This is about gov't and big corporations ridding us of the availability of healthy, safe, unadulterated food and only giving us the option for unsafe, poisoned, adulterated, GMO processed foods tainted with antibiotics, hormones, chemicals, toxins etc in order to keep the pharmaceutical , medical "for profit" and Big Ag industries in business at the expense of our health, wellbeing and literally our lives !!

Totally agree.

Gov't wants all individuals to be consumers and corporations to be the only producers.

They want us to rely on them for everything so that when they take more freedoms away, there's less and less we can do about it.

The FDA should publish safe food handling guidelines and require small farmers to follow them, but they must not add to farmers' already incredible work load by requiring additional paperwork.

FDA should focus on the industrial scale producers where contamination can affect thousands of families.

While I agree with the local food movement and regularly buy food at my local farmers market, you have to realize that corporate agribusiness is using the small farmer as a red herring to avoid further (much-needed) regulation of their business by the FDA.

Time and again, these giant corporations spend millions making ads about "standing up for the little guy" to rally the uninformed into getting the government off the corporations' back. They couldn't give a rats ass about small farmers, but it's the easiest (and cheapest) way for them to knock down the FDA's authority every time a bill comes up.

We need to SUPPORT the food safety bill's passage for our own good as consumers. If possible, there should be allowances made at the regulatory level for how it's enforced on different types of farmers (small vs. corporate). But let's don't allow them to throw the baby out with the bathwater AGAIN in the name of corporate profits.

The article said the small local food producers would still need to comply with local regulations.

Adam Smith capitalism (not corporate capitalism) is the assurance. The true hand of the free market works when people can look their food supplier in the face and ask questions about how the food is raised and when they can visit and even volunteer on the farms. Plus, local communities have their own regulations, and local farmers markets often have very strict standards. Mine does.

are you for real? Visit and volunteer on the farm??? rotflmao

Reputation matters more to a local farm than a corporate farm. Corporate farms work with the currency of risk... their economists and lawyers accept that occasionally they'll have to fork out money to cover those losses.

A local farm goes bankrupt if they get people sick.

Second... it's a matter of how many people get sick. If a local producer screws up, only a few people might get ill... if a corporate system is tainted, people get sick all over.

And you're wrong about local food costing more. Organic, yes... but not all local producers have bought into that. Our local small grocery chain concentrates on local producers, and our produce is not expensive, and often cheaper because of transportation costs. Farmer's markets are crazy cheep as well.

Yes, I can go visit the farms from which I get my vegetables and eggs. I can also volunteer and get free vegetables for it.

It heartens me to know that there are so many people with common sense. I had nearly given up hope. Yes, visit your local farms, volunteer, get involved. This is your food we are talking about people. What could be more important? Know what you put into your bodies, where it came from and how it is raised. If a farmer has something to hide, you dont want to eat their food anyways and I promise you, factory farms are not going to let you in to witness their appalling habits. When you give up personal accountability for your own food then you give up all civil liberty, period. We need good strong food safety laws yes, but we need them to be made with common sense, not big corporate agendas, in mind.

Book keeping is part of having a farm and necessary. The problem is that large corporate farms get too many exemptions and considerations when laws are being made. For eaxample under NAIS, a small farmer has to microchip every animal, where as a large corporate producer can have one microchip designated to an entire herd. Unbalanced rules such as this does put an unfair burden on small farmers and should be what we try to avoid. We need to focus on delineating the system and restructuring the monopoly that is our current food system. Get families back in charge of our farms. Make it so that all farms have an open door transparency policy. Let we, the people, see what is really going on and how our food is produced.

Then let us decide how we will nourish our bodies...

Actually, the spinach's water supply had been contaminated by improperly managed runoff from factory farms.

LR Lucas - do you know why those regulations were put in place to begin with? Go read Upton Sinclair's book "The Jungle" and then come back and talk to us.

You have let them in with the "patriot" act already.... whats next?

You want the "freedom" for your family to eat tainted and poisonous food?

Thanks but no thanks, I like being able to trust that the food I buy won't make me sick. Reminds me of the show "Hoarders", always seems to be Tea Party types moaning that it's their property, if they want dead cats and rats in their food that's their business. Meanwhile, the neighbors get to share in the ratty, roachy goodness.

"Freedom" is a great word, but has no one definition. Freedom to refuse service to black people, as Rand Paul supports, means black people lack the freedom to eat out or exercise their civil rights. You don't get unlimited freedom/ anarchy, when it means intruding on other people.

"...the Senate blocked a measure designed to reduce wage disparities between men and women. The 58-41 vote to take up the Paycheck Fairness Act fell short of the 60 needed to overcome GOP opposition."

Speaking of "freedoms", the GOP wants companies to have the freedom to discriminate against women. I really hope everyone remembers this.

Yeah, once in this country companies had the freedom to dump whatever the wanted in the rivers and streams. The freedom to bury their toxic waste out back. And the freedom to belch tons of sulfur dioxide and pollution out of their smokestacks. People had the freedom to put leaded gas in their cars. And companies had the freedom to sell rotten meat bleached so it didn't smell bad. Wonder why we changed all that?

@ Clotho: Here's an idea -- why don't you read complete paragraphs and THEN comment.

"...the bill would expose employers to more litigation by removing limits on punitive and compensatory damage awards."

Too much litigation = large "awards" to litigants = bankrupt businesses = thousands of lost jobs. I know that may be hard to follow, but try really hard. I'm a woman who supports equal pay for equal work, but not at the expense of million dollar lawsuits that could land everyone in the unemployment office.

On topic: FOOD, Inc is one of the most eye opening films out there in regards to where the food you put in your body comes from. It's scary to think that if this bill passes as is without Tester's or other similar amendments, that our choices for truly healthy local food will eventually be severely limited or nonexistent. I (and obviously many others) go out of my way to buy locally grown, produced and processed food. The cost to provide for my health is worth it. I don't trust the FDA as far as I could throw them to preserve small farms and local food shares.

But this is exactly what IS happening... NOW. Maybe you should watch The World According to Monsanto. This IS their mission statement and plan for all of us.

Agreed, FDA should publish safe handling guidelines and require farmers to follow them, but must not add to the work load of farmers, especially those who sell at farmers' markets, by requiring additional paperwork. FDA should have the authority to inspect, but in practice should focus on industrial scale operations where the consequences of contamination are catastrophic (how's that for alliteration?)

No... gov't should ELIMINATE big corporate farms and CAFOs and every community should go back to small, local production that serves their own communities.

With all the advances in organic and hydroponic gardening food can be grown virtually anywhere. The emphasis should be on personal or local community gardens and small farms and dairies where animals get to live like animals feeding on pasture and being treated humanely which keeps our food supply safe from avoiding having to pump up sick and diseased animals with hormones, antibiotics etc.

That said, you'd still have a need to regulate to prevent disease outbreaks even with small farms. Remember the problems associated with raw milk?

right, for a lot of people, the only food available is from places like WalMart. Since private business cannot be trusted to regulate itself (witness recent financial meltdown), regulation by FDA is necessary to protect public health.

State inspectors were the ones supposedly in control of Wright County Egg, but they were too cozy with the well-heeled and charity-generous owner.

There are a number of problems with having the food supply governed by a hodgepodge of state regulations. Bad companies can skip from one state to another with no paper trail because there's no central authority to maintain data, for one. (That's was one of the problems in the Wright County Egg outbreak.)

And, as any good corporate lawyer knows, it's a lot cheaper to buy off local officials than federal ones. A third problem with state regulation is that Instead of having trained agency regulators overseeing areas they are experts in, you get local mayors and councilmen who may not even have a high school diploma. Why do you think corporations work so hard to take regulation out of the hands of the feds and put it with the states? Because they can get away with more.

James, the "slippery slope" is a logical fallacy. you'll have to go to a tea party/faux news blog if you expect to fool people with it.

You will not even be allowed to keep your own seeds and grow them eventually. Look at how they treat the Hamish people for growing their own food and making thier own milk. Do you want your house to be inspected for growing a backyard garden? Our founding forefathers did not trust big government, so why should we? The big companies will bribe, oops, I mean pay thier way out of any mistakes, the little guy will be put out of business. You trust the same government that has sit back and watched wall street rob us for trillions of dollars and hasn't even put one person in jail over it? Keep letting crooks have more and more control over your lives. Our government is in bed with wall street, which owns these large food producers. Do you really think this bill is about controlling the big guys? Wow you will only wake up after you have a prison cell around you. Have you read the bill? I'll bet you none of the people who are voting for it have either.

Paul-1486980-"I have read stories that say this is already in this bill."

And therein lies the problem. Don't believe what you read on the internet. Show a little cynicism when you are trying to explore the news. There is no fact-checking on "teh intarwebs", and most of the conspiracy theory nonsense stems from one anonymous bozo saying"I read somewhere that..."

Obviously, the "stories" you read "somewhere" are complete lies. Common sense whould dictate that, but learn to question everything, and read the actual bill if you have the patience.

edit: Looks like Paul may have deleted this from his comment. Bravo! Excellent start in asking questions and not assuming it's all true. BTW, do you mean "Amish"?

This is already happening. Why do you think Monsanto has bought up almost all of the independent seed companies ? This law... if it passes WILL outlaw private gardens and our right to grow our own food.

Smc - Monsanto has nothing to do federal regulation of your backyard garden. They're the best example of the opposite - a free market corporate monopoly that controls every aspect of our lives because we don't have the guts to regulate them via OUR government.

If cleanliness is going to kill us then why do we keep living longer? In the old days, people died young. We live longer because of better medicine and medical treatment. Eating stuff that makes you sick will just make you sick.

Most of our living longer figures come about because of infant mortality is figured in the average. Infants just don't die like they used to. Don't get me wrong in the sense that there is a time for sensible cleanliness. We are killing 99.9 % of so many organisms, but the .1% that survives is a strong resistant bug that in some cases we can't deal with. I speak about all of this quite regularly with my friend the microbiologist, who says this is all going to bite us in the ass. E-coli and salmonella have been around forever and a good many of us used to have good immunity to both of them and we all have e-coli in our systems right now in parts of our bodies that can deal with it. I dread the day we don't have it, because then we'll be at risk for any kind of exposure. Here a little read for ya: http.//theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=383

Hey Chuck, why don't you go get some spoiled meat and improve your immune system? You know, like the stuff they sold in the "good old days" before federal meat inspectors?

Go read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, and see how healthy you think people were back then.

Infant mortality definetely plays a role in our longer life spans but it's not the whole picture. I do agree that antibiotics are overused and have led to drug resistant strains of some pretty bad stuff. But e-coli and salmonella will make you sick and possibly cause death. To build up some sort of immunity to these bacteria would take generations of evolution. It won't happen in your lifetime. It is much easier and less painfull to take precautions against exposing yourself to them. That being said, most of the problems with food contamination come from factory farms. I would hope that these regulations only apply to the factory farms and not the small businesses.

Zoning ordinances are not all bad. There is a balance of reasonable regulation and laws.

you people are really unbelieveable....

Regulatory agencies were created by US to protect US from THEM. I suppose America has the attention span of a gnat these days, but try reading up on the problems that caused us to create these agencies to begin with. Then maybe you'll appreciate what they do for us and quit trying to destroy them.

Corporations aren't putting millions of dollars into advertising and lobbying to get rid of federal regulation for YOUR benefit, you know.

The number of households with the female in the workplace and the male at home raising, shouldn't more people wonder why this is still in place?

Better yet why is it buried in an article about the Food safety bill?

Chief, you are posing a dilema. FDA does not inspect more because it lacks the budget. It cannot inspect more without hiring inspectors, which grows government. Tea party rhetoric, as usuals, fails the sniff test.

The food inspection system is not working because the Bush Administration CUT the number of food inspectors. (Just like the cut the number of MMS inspectors for the oil industry, and we all know how that worked out.)

Risks of tainted food rise as inspections drop (MSNBC, 2/26/2007)

The federal agency that's been front and center in warning the public about tainted spinach and contaminated peanut butter is conducting just half the food safety inspections it did three years ago.

The cuts by the Food and Drug Administration come despite a barrage of high-profile food recalls.

"We have a food safety crisis on the horizon," said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia.

Between 2003 and 2006, FDA food safety inspections dropped 47 percent, according to a database analysis of federal records by The Associated Press.

FDA 'just can't manage the job'
That's not all that's dropping at the FDA in terms of food safety. The analysis also shows:

• There are 12 percent fewer FDA employees in field offices who concentrate on food issues.
• Safety tests for U.S.-produced food have dropped nearly 75 percent, from 9,748 in 2003 to 2,455 last year, according to the agency's own statistics.

Logical consequences, anyone? But we have to know what came before to recognize why we are where we are today.

Thanks for highlghting that , maybe some of those micro government Tea-Party BOZOS will read it and put two and two together , seems everyone else remembers.

JOE, "tea party rhetoric" is not my cup of tea. I do not subscribe to the spew coming from either the republicans, the tea party or the democrats. I am right, if you KNOW what I'm talking about.

Lets clear something up - what so many people call "Big Government is in reality too much government regulation - too many laws on the books. It is not the best way to describe the individuals that work for the government. Now, there is a ring of truth to the idea that there are too many people in government - at the higher levels. i.e. too many chiefs and not enough indians. Believe it or not, more government workers are needed as the population grows. As an example (I'm pulling numbers magically here, but the theory is sound), lets use the FDA. If the FDA had only 50 different regulations to enforce among a population of say 100,000, then they might need say 10 total employees, a boss and 9 inspectors to inspect say, two facilities periodically. Well as the population grows but the regulations stay at 50, then they have to increase to say 23 employees, one head boss, two sub bosses and 20 inspectors for what may now be three or four facilities that need periodic inspection. But increase the regulations, make them more specialized for the same increase in population, now we need to increase the "government" by expanding the workforce of inspectors, maybe even a sub boss or two. Increase the population and diversify facilities into other geographic regions and you have to increase the size of your work force accordingly.

The problem right now is that people think that the workers do all the legislating - they don't - they are just workers, doing what they are told to do by the real government - the people we voted into office to do what we want them to do. So they make a hundred more rules, and each new rule needs a boss, and more workers are needed - especially if more facilities are added as the population grows. But they don't add workers, they add bosses, at a higher cost to the taxpayer. A boss costs the taxpayer sometimes 4 or 5 times what a worker costs.

The truth of what we need is less government regulation, just proper oversight, more actual workers in some places, and fewer government bosses. Don't dis government workers - they are the ones that actually contribute to keep this nation running - dis government officials for over regulating and micromanaging.

smaller producers should not be required to submit additional paperwork to FDA. they should be required to follow safe handling guidelines, but don't add to their work load.

Apparently you don't read much do you. BPA is found in most food containers.. especially in the linings of cans. It leaches into the food and POISONS us. DUH.

RichMJones@rcn.com,

YOU ARE REALLY SO UNINFORMED.

Seems you cannot see the forest thru the trees.

The big picture being we cannot afford to help the entire World. And need to butt out like China and the Russian Federation and take care of our own. And yes, that includes getting out of the United Nations, especially since they got the US into these Wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) and the previous UN Failures, Korean War, Vietnam (at the end of WWII), Somalia, Darfur, etc.).

Haiti is NOT a part of the United States of America.

And if you KNEW the situation at Haiti (the unwillingness of Haitians to help themselves after the Hurricane and then later the Earthquake), you would KNOW what the reality versus the broadcast news media.

And if you want to know why the $5 Billion USDs has not reached the Haitians yet, ask the Clinton Foundation. And while you are asking them ask them how much profits they are making off their "Administrative Costs".

And next time do NOT redirect the USN Aircraft Carrier Group from here (Afghanistan) to Haiti, with either US Military dying for lack of Close Air Support (CAS) or Haitians for lack of humanitarian aid. With the physically fit Haitians (majority) unwilling to form human chains (like the chinese do) to dig out survivors, clear the roads of debris, bury the dead, distribute the food, water, tents, medical supplies from the intact UN warehouse (prestocked after the Hurricane). The USN Aircraft Carrier Group was redirected after the President Obama April 2009 Defense Budget Cuts cut the USN Aircraft Carrier Group that would have covered the region that includes Haiti.

And as far as affording the Dream Act in reference to the over 23 Million Illegal Aliens that do not pay taxes (employer paperwork means more apprehensions and deportations), collect US Taxpayer Funded Public Assistance (since the defeat of Proposition 187) as only one of ten works, have no intent on becoming US Citizens (cost of living too high in US), US Taxpayer funded Free Education, Free Medical (thru Emergency Rooms), with Bankrupt Illegal Alien Harbor State of California spending over $10 Billion USDs each year on Illegal Aliens of the yearly $85 Billion USD Budget. The legal precedent and the known effects of the Illegal Aliens on the Citizens of the US are President Eisenhower's successful apprehensions and deportations of millions of Illegal Aliens with "Operation Wetback". Further effects on US Citizens are described in the President Bush 2006 Illegal Alien Act, "To respond to the crisis of illegal immigration in the United States", as part of the current US Economic and US Job situation.

Who in hades do you think the money comes from to pay for the demanded In State Tuition for Illegal Aliens attending College. That's right the US Citizens as Taxpayers. Are you that uninformed. You are either Pro US Citizen or pro Dream Act, it is clear that you are Anti US Citizen. And this is also a matter of being for what is Legal and against Illegal. So you are anti US Citizen and pro Illegal.

THE MONEY HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE. Money does not fall from the sky as "mana from heaven". The money eventually comes from all of US.

Of course a Medical Doctor would be opposed to Health Care Insurance. As the Insurance Corporations NEED to be removed from the Medical Profession, then we can get REAL Universal Health Care like what President FDR instituted with the result of an automatic decrease in Medical Treatments of 80%, the last vestige of the President FDR Universal Health Care for all US Citizens is what US Congress gets for $42 per month (Unlimited Medical Treatments):

Decreases cost 80% (last part of video 1:40) by Doctor David Ores, New York.1:45

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5247963n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Instead we get screwed with the current Health Care Reform being payback for Campaign Contributions. Since all of this was already negotiated by President Obama in his closed door White House meetings before the idea was even brought up in Congress.

Unlikely ally of health care reform: business
Insurers, drug companies came on board early and may profit from it

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35989945/ns/business-us_business/

And with Senator Tom Coburn's previous and current opposition to Ear Marks (Pork Added) to everything. No wonder he was opposed to the proposed Legistlation that had more ear marks added than what the initial cost of the proposed Law is.

YOU ARE REALLY SO UNINFORMED.

Just like some statements in the article.

Like the statement that does not have anything to do with the Subject, about the GOP defeating the Paycheck Fairness Act:

The 58-41 vote to take up the Paycheck Fairness Act fell short of the 60 needed to overcome GOP opposition.

Without explaining WHY. Can you say Pork and Pet Projects Added.

And then the author starts to explain, again on a subject not related to Food Safety.

Then the article switches back on topic with Demoncraps offering amendments. And if you know what this means, they are opposed to the proposed Law, unless their considerations are included as amendments.

YOU ARE REALLY UNINFORMED as to how Dysfunctional Congress (D.C.) works. You really need to read Senator Tom Coburn's book about how Congress corrupts outsiders (idealists) into insiders (those receiving corporate campaign contributions, and other funding (lobbyists, special interests), like Nancy Pelosi and StarKist (including her special appropriations (StarKist Samoa) and legistlation to eliminate the competition (Bumblebee and Beachcliff)). So much for Nancy Pelosi's "Cleaning out the swamp (Congress)". She cannot clean out the Swamp, unless she resigns, as she is the Swamp.

And instead of fixing the problem the majority (Demoncraps, until next year) are too busy playing the child like blame game. To spoonfeed you the solutions: 1. US Economy, Reinstatement of the Glass Steagall Acts, as explained in my other newsvine topics in relation to the current 60-100 Trillion USD Global Economic Crisis. 2. US Jobs/Manufacturing/US Economy, Elimination of the Free Trade Agreements and Amendments that legalized Outsourcing, especially with President Clinton's "Most Favored Trade Status" for China. 3. US Jobs/Manufacturing/US Economy, Implementation by Executive Order, a larger scale version of the successful President Eisenhower "Operation Wetback" to eliminate the Tax Burden on US Citizens created by over 23 Million Illegal Aliens in the US. 4. Implementation and passage of the President Bush 2006 Illegal Alien Act, not the watered down Congressional version that changed deportations to amnesty. And passage of a Federal Law similar to California Proposition 187, denying US Taxpayer Funded Public Assistance to non US Citizens.