The food safety bill is almost certainly dead. Why? Don’t blame it on GOP obstructionism — while Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) robustly opposed the bill, citing its unpaid-for $1.4 billion price tag, and its new (and ineffective, he argued) regulations, that didn’t stop plenty of Republican senators from backing it.
Instead, it’s because Senate majority leader Harry Reid forgot about that pesky constitutional requirement that all taxes originate in the House.
Here’s the background: The Food Safety bill passed the House in 2009. It had stalled in the Senate, to many Democrats’ dismay, and so Reid spent valuable days during the lame-duck session on debating and voting on the bill. In the end, the bill passed by a comfortable margin, 73 to 25. The White House issued a jubilant statement and urged the House to act quickly to reconcile the Senate and House versions.
And then they discovered that because the Senate bill raised revenues it was unconstitutional. So, the solution became to pass a constitutional food safety bill — as part of the omnibus spending bill.
Since that failed last night, it looks like the food safety legislation is dead. While Democrats are hoping to include the legislation in the continuing resolution, a GOP senate aide told The Hill that won’t be happening.
MyKu:
"Food Safety" is dead.
Maybe Arby's will bring back
The Big Montana!
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Is this any surprise to anyone who watched the myriad "town hall" meetings in which lawmakers were seemingly ignorant of the fact that limits on Federal government power do exist?
Man, we citizens really were asleep at the wheel for way too long. Those pols have *got* to be hatin' on us right about now.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusethe Constitution..."you've got to be kidding"
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDoes this mean Obama will be sleeping on the couch now?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou'd think that after passing Obamacare and the 'tax cut' bill in such a manner that he'd have his copy/paste routine down to a science.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow then did the tax compromise bill originate in the Senate?
That bill not only extended the tax cuts but also contained the new death tax of 35% over $5 M. I had been thinking that it shouldn't have originated in the Senate and after Bummer made the deal with Monte let's make a deal McConnell, Pelousy refused to take it up in the House until the Senate had voted on it.
I don't get it. Can anyone help me out here?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGlad to hear it. My backyard tomato garden is safe and the roadside farmer I get my peaches from is too.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow then did the tax compromise bill get passed? It contains a new 35% tax on death as well as extending the tax cuts.
As I recall, after Bummer made his deal with Monte McConnell (Let's Make A Deal) Pelousy refused to take it up in the House until after the Senate voted on it.
Might we be lucky and have this horrible bill repealed too?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Maybe Arby's will bring back The Big Montana!"
I loved The Big Montana!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThere's a lesson here for Republicans. You can look pretty stupid if you don't follow the rules.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is the best news I've had all week!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBullit Bob,
It really isn't a new tax bill per se. If the Bush Tax Law expires, rates fall back to the Clinton Era tax rates; this would include EIC pay-outs, the AMT, capital gains, the Death Tax, etc... Since we aren't talking about a "new law" governing taxes, and the Bush Law allows for extensions, the bill can orginate in either House.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWow, first the Obamacare decision, then the tax deal (with that delightful press conference), Reid caves on the Omnibus, and now Momma Obama has no food bill. Ti's' the Season!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe tax bill was passed the same way the health care bill was; they took a bill originating in the house, redacted 100% of the original content, inserted a new bill and sent it back to the house. The "Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010" originated in the house as the "Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010", just as the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" was the "Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe Food Safety Law was a "solution" in search of a problem. It underscores the Dems meme of "Let no Crisis Go to Waste". The law itself only expanded the federal governments reach into the food chain where it could potentially dictate rules down to the hobby farmer. From what I understand, it was large corporate, industrial hatcheries that had the problems. But, Big Food would have benefited from the new law in that smaller farms and ag operations have not the resources to comply to the new regulations. It reminds me of the Sarbox law. Sarbanes Oxley was the result of corruption of one of the Big 5 Accounting Firms (Authur Anderson). Yet, the remaining Big 4 firms were invited to write the Sarbanes Oxley Law (and to thier financial benefit).
Call it Crony Capitalism -something the Beltway specializes in.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm thankful that the "food safety" bill has died. I would have to resign from the Leavenworth, Kansas Farmers' Market had it passed, as it would make the price of my chicken's eggs skyrocket and no one would buy them.
The regulations outlined in the law were extremely onerous for small (perhaps I should say minute) producers like myself.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGreat! The atrocity called the Food "Safety" bill is dead. Lets not get too comfortable, however. Even liberals and big corp (Monsanto) learn from their mistakes. Next time this bill comes around, it wont be written with the same legislative typos. This "loss" amounts to nothing more than a "time-out" in the liberal agenda playbook.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMy God, They are so stupid!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThank God, They are stupid!
The most disturbing thing about this enterprise-crushing 'Monsanto Benefit' bill was the number of republicans who voted for it. It is quite possible that it will be regurgitated at some point, despite the lack of any evidence of it being necessary.
George Soros and his cronies bought heavily into Monsanto stock in late 2009. Let's see if he holds or sells, then we'll have an indication of the likelihood of the bill eventually passing.
Of course, in the real world his purchase would be equivalent to insider trading, given his closeness to the WH, but that would be a whole other story eh? Just like the PetroBras one.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow did this thing manage to come back to life yesterday and pass the Senate by UNANIMOUS CONSENT???
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCan someone please tell me why Tom Coburn, allegedly opposed to this bill, quickly and quietly made an about-face? And why has he not offered any explanation (such as on his website) for his yea vote, aside from the gutless excuse that it was going to pass anyway?
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