Archive for Legislation to Oppose – Page 2
NATURAL SOLUTIONS FOUNDATION
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty…”
“No one’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”
http://drrimatruthreports.com/?p=7853
Please forward this link; help make it “go viral” – http://tinyurl.com/GOPbetrayal
12.20.10 – Revised Action item:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5395
The betrayal Sunday 12.19.10 of the Health and Food Freedom movement [and the Tea Party, Liberty, Farm/Ranch/Garden groups working with us] by the GOP Senators in passing S.510/HR.2751 back to the House with an unrecorded Unanimous Consent vote is unacceptable. We condemn the GOP for this betrayal.
12.21.10 – Update: Ron Paul’s office says the vote on HR.2751 will probably happen this afternoon or early evening. The word is that the vote will be very close (the food control bill last passed the House 212-206 with 17 not voting).
Follow the action in the House: http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/
Clerk’s Floor Summary: http://clerk.house.gov/floorsummary/floor.html
According to The Hill:
12.20.10 – “The Senate unexpectedly approved food safety legislation by unanimous consent Sunday evening, rescuing a bill that floated in limbo for weeks because of a clerical error.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/food-safety/134447-in-sunday-evening-surprise-senate-passes-food-safety-bill-by-unanimous-consent
Our so-called friends in the Senate had assured us they would object to any effort to pass S.510, the fake “food safety” (really, “food control”) in the last days of the lame-duck congressional session. We feel betrayed. We pledge not to forget! S.510 has been attached to HR.2751 and has the unconstitutional revenue raising clause removed.
The office of Sen Coburn, who failed to live up to his pledge to refuse any unanimous consent, tells us the majority party had enough GOP support to close off debate and force the bill through anyway. We say, that’s no excuse! Sorry Senator, the GOP has lost our trust. By making a dirty deal to avoid a recorded vote the GOP failed the test of transparency.
THE HOUSE NEXT MEETS TUESDAY… HOURS TO SAVE FOOD FREEDOM!
“Why,” one writer asked us, “did you say betrayed as though the GOP Senators were traitors to the cause of Freedom?” Why? Because that is the truth and we always seek to speak truth to power! We didn’t expect protection for our Liberties from the majority party, but the wimp-out by the GOP, which promised us so much, is not acceptable. We will not forget!
Please use this Action Item over and over again this morning and all day!
ONLY YOUR PUSH BACK CAN SAVE US NOW!
KEEP ON PUSHING BACK!
PLEASE USE THE NEW ACTION ITEM EVERY DAY…
OFTEN! And Forward It to Your Contacts!
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5395
A message from General Bert:
“The sweet smell of victory… or the stench of defeat… which is in the air? We must encourage the faint-of-heart to persevere. By the end of any battle, both sides are exhausted, but the side that perseveres just a little longer… wins! That is where we are now, and that is why massive Push Back is more important now than before! We are flooding the lame-duck Congress with a clear message: “No Food Control Bill! Strip S.510/HR.2751 out of any pending bill!” Keep at it! Victory is within our reach. Keep pressing forward while you recruit your contacts to act with you now!”
Natural Solutions’ Trustee Ralph Fucetola JD’s personal take on this:
http://vitaminlawyerhealthfreedom.blogspot.com/2010/12/senate-gop-betrayal-on-s510-personal.html
Please support our efforts at this critical time! Donate here:
http://drrimatruthreports.com/?page_id=189
LATE BREAKING NEWS: OMNIBUS WITH FOOD CONTROL DONE FOR!
If We continue to Push Back!
Natural Solutions Foundation
Your Voice of Global Health & Food Freedom™
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org –
The various attempts by Big AgraBiz and DC Politicians to force the fake “food safety” bill, actually the food control bill, through the Congress is failing because hundreds of thousands of messges are flooding the “lame-duck” Congress from citizens demanding: Don’t Adopt Any Bill that Includes S.510!
The counterpoint rumor is that Sen. Harry Reid is desperate to add S.510 into one of several more bills that may reach the floor of the Senate before adjourning for the Holidays…
New Action Item: Support Simple C.R.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5395
Lame Duck Congress
From the Senate Calendar: “Thursday, Dec 16, 2010 – The Senate convened at 9:30 a.m. and adjourned at 8:36 p.m. No record votes were taken.”
From Breitbart: “Democrats controlling the Senate have abandoned a 1,924-page catchall spending measure that’s laced with homestate pet projects known as earmarks and that would have provided another $158 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan”
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9K5BA5O0&show_article=1
“Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) touts his one-page continuing resolution that would “simply continue the government through February 18th.”
From RealClearPolitics: “I would hope that it would make sense on a bipartisan basis, this one-page continuing resolution on Feb 18th as an alternative to this 2,000-page monstrosity that spends a half a billion dollars a page,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.”
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/12/16/mcconnell_dems_using_christmas_break_as_an_inducement_to_pass_omnibus.htm
Congratulations Mouse Warriors!
This message from Health Freedom USA’s President, Gen. Stubblebine: “The smell of victory is in the air… we must encourage the faint-of-heart Senators to persevere. And get ready to blast ‘em if they turn-tail to run! By the end of any battle, both sides are exhausted, but the side that perseveres just a little longer… wins! That is where we are now, and that is why massive Push Back is more important now than before! We are flooding the Congress with a clear message: No New Programs in the Continuing Resolution; Strip S.510 out of any funding bill! Keep at it! Victory is within our reach. Keep pressing forward while you recruit your contacts to act with you now!”
Health Freedom USA
www.HealthFreedomPortal.org
Dr. Rima Reports: Sunday 9 to Noon, Central
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5303
In addition to the Continuing Resolution, sent to the Senate after being passed by the House (HR. 3082, which had the fake “food safety” bill S.510 hidden in it) the Senate “leadership” is considering an omnibus budget bill, crabbing together all of the 12 sectional budget bills Congress failed to pass, and putting S.510’s new food-control bureaucracy into the witches’ brew for good measure!
Opposition to the Omnibus Bill is running about 1,500 people an hour through the Health Freedom USA educate-decision-makers, easy to use, email system; just put in your zip code and a bit more info, and your emails are on their way to your Senators and the White House. Various patriot and civic groups are urging their supporters to express opposition, so the total PUSH BACK is even stronger.
The Continuing Resolution or Omnibus Bill can only pass over the minority’s objection if the majority forces the issue through cloture (limiting debate). Since the majority party lost its 60 vote super-majority, needed to invoke cloture, the only way either bill will pass is if certain faint-of-heart members of the minority party support it! It took several Senators — including Massachusetts’ new Sen. Scott Brown who was elected with Tea Party support — to pass S.510 the first time in the Senate. If these Senators hold firm, this will not happen again! If they side with the majority party, we expect the voters will remember. And even six years from now Sen. Brown will be held to the promises he ignored!
The email system’s action item against the Omnibus Budget-Busting Bill with S.510’s fake “food safety” bureaucracy tucked into it, is here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5303
Says General Stubblebine, President of Natural Solutions Foundation:
“The smell of victory is in the air… we must encourage the faint-of-heart Senators to persevere. And get ready to blast ’em if they turn-tail to run! By the end of any battle, both sides are exhausted, but the side that perseveres just a little longer… wins! That is where we are now, and that is why massive Push Back is more important now than before! We are flooding the Senate with a clear message: No New Programs in the Continuing Resolution or Omnibus Bill; Strip S.510 out of any funding bill! Keep at it! Victory is within our reach. Keep pressing forward while you recruit your contacts to act with you now!”
Natural Solutions Foundation
Your Voice of Global Health & Food Freedom™
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org – www.HealthFreedomPortal.org
Action Item Updated:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5303
For those of you who didn’t follow Wednesday’s events on Twitter or C-Span, the House lame-duck “leadership” pushed the “Food Safety” Bill, formerly known as S.510 into the “Continuing Resolution” Funding Bill to keep the Federal Govt running for another year, passing this Hot Potato to Senate again.
It is apparent how important this fake “food safety” bill is to The Powers That Be — it is very unusual to attach a major regulatory initiative to the Continuing Resolution.
The House vote appears to have been 212 to 206, with no Republicans voting for the bill. The next step is to continue inundating the Senate with voter outrage.
1. It is bad legislative practice to combine a controversial regulatory bill with the Continuing Resolution needed to fund govt activities.
2. It is unprincipled to push this bill against the clear will of the voters that the Federal govt is too big and must stop over-regulating.
3. A clean Continuing Resolution is needed so that Congress can decide to continue funding at a certain level without muddying the process with extraneous matters.
4. The vote was nearly a pure partisan vote, with no Republicans in favor of this maneuver, and only a few Democrats standing against the lame-duck “leadership.” We will remember!
5. The People will keep a close eye on all GOP Senators and expect them to act from principle and not add this budget-busting bill, with its 4,000 new FDA agents to harass local food production and distribution.
We were “on the Hill” today to let our friends in Congress know that “CAM” health care practices (what we prefer to all “Complementary and Advanced Modalities”) need to have a voice in the debate over health care and to re-enforce our opposition to S.510, the fake food safety bill.
We agree with Congressman Paul (who we also saw today) that it is bad legislative process to tack a a very controversial regulatory bill to the Continuing Resolution needed to fund govt activities.
This bill will impact dietary supplements. That is clear from the way the FDA used section 301(11) of the 2007 FDA “enabling act” to outlaw a form of Vitamin B-6, although Congress put a clause in that bill “exempting” DSHEA products.
FDA will use any new food authority to attack supplements and natural remedies, just as it used its enhanced powers under the 2007 FDA “enabling act” to ban the interstate sale of a form of Vitamin B-6.
Please help us stop S.510 as a tack-on to HR 3082.
Action Item Updated:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5303
Ron Paul, me and some of our Heroes…
Rion Paul and Ralph Fucetola
NATURAL SOLUTIONS FOUNDATION
Your Global Voice of Health & Food Freedom™
www.HealthFreedomPortal.org
Why S.510 Does NOT Protect Local, Natural Food… or Freedom!
S. 510 Hits A Snag
by: Doreen Hannes Dec. 4, 2010
Reprinted with permission from www.naisstinks.com
Senate Bill S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, passed the Senate on November 30th, 74-23. Not a single Democrat crossed party lines. This bill is the coup on food in the US. Even though the Tester Amendment was included to dupe those who think it will stop small farmers and processors from being put right out of business, it will only slow down the demise of some small farms.
Then it came to light that a Constitutional issue that had been staring all of us in the face was present. The Senate did not pick up HR2749, which passed the House in July of 2009; instead they took up their own monster in S 510. They also began revenue generation in the Senate (Section 107 of the bill), which is expressly forbidden by the Constitution.
Faced with a patently un-Constitutional bill, that violates Constitutional process, we have to remain vigilant until BOTH houses have adjourned for the winter recess prior to the next session of Congress. Talk about roller coasters.
If the Constitution means anything at all, the House should blue slip S. 510, which would preclude them from taking the bill up and very likely run out the clock for passage in this session.
However, there are four choices available for the legislation to move forward before they adjourn on December 24th. The first is for the Senate to bring it back and get unanimous consent to remove the offending section. Since Senator Coburn of Oklahoma will not consent, that avenue is cut off.
Second is for the Senate to bust S. 510 down to the original a compromise amendment, remove the funding section and the Tester amendment and try to ram it through the entire senate process again before the 24th. This seems unlikely, but do not trust them as far as you can throw a semi trailer loaded with lead.
Third, the Senate could take HR2749, which has already passed the House, and rush it through the Senate, and it would go straight to the Presidents desk with no process with the House necessary. This also seems rather unlikely. The bills are very similar and would have the same detrimental effects for everyone, but the Senators are not familiar with the bill, so it could be really tough.
Fourth, the House Ways and Means committee could pass the bill through and forgive the Constitutional infraction and refuse to blue slip the bill, then vote on it before the 24th and we would have the bill albeit there would be legal issues brought forth that could possibly ensnare the regulations they want to write under this bill. This appears to be the most likely potential for S. 510.
Make no mistake about this, SB 510, or HR 2749 are worse than the Patriot Act, the Health Care bill, and the Federal Reserve Act combined. We can all live without little pieces of paper, and many of us can live without doctors, and we have been living with the increasing police state since 911, but none of us can live without food and water. If we lose food and water, we will not be able to fight anything else.
The Tester-Hagan Amendment Lipstick on a Pig
The largest deception played on the public in S. 510 is the inclusion of the Tester Amendment. This amendment was sold as the complete exemption for all small farms grossing less than $500,000 per year. But if one reads the actual amendment, it is evident that it will not do what it is purported to do for the vast majority of small producers.
The Tester Amendment has strident restrictions on those who may be exempted from HACCP (Hazard and Critical Control Point) implementations. HACCP is 50 pages of instructions that require a certifier to sign off on the plan, and a team to be trained in ensuring the plan is followed on the farm. The requirement of this plan put about 40% of small meat processors out of business several years ago. If you fall under the protection of the Tester amendment, you will not have to do it….but let us see how protective the Tester Amendment really is.
First, the Tester Amendment purports to exempt farms with less than $500,000 in sales from the requirements of S.510. However, to be exempt one must sell more than 50% of their products directly to consumers or restaurants within a 275-mile radius from production, and keep records substantiating those sales. The records are open for inspection and verification of the exemption. In other words, you have to prove you are playing by their rules through record keeping and approval of those records, or meet the more onerous requirements of S.510.
You must apply to be included in the protections of the Tester amendment. You must substantiate through your records for three years that you fit the category of selling more than 50% of average annual monetary value within this 275-mile radius. So, if you sell on the roadside or at a farmers market, you must have a map handy and ask for ID from everyone who purchases from you or lose your exemption. Nice, huh?
Proof of Residence for Food? Really?
I can see it now….A lovely early June day, with the birds singing and the smell of freshly mown hay hanging in the air like the best memory from childhood. A young mother pulls into the Farmers Market and readies herself for a wonderful shopping experience.
She approaches the first stand with her mouth nearly watering at the bright display of fresh produce. I would like 3 cucumbers, please, says the lady with her 3 kids and cloth grocery bag.
Great! Can I see your ID? replies the guy in bibs.
Oh, I am paying with cash she replies with a smile.
No matter, says the farmer, We have to make sure you are within a 275 mile radius of our farm in order to sell to you.
She looks perplexed and says, Well, we are not. We are on our way to visit my parents and I wanted to make a special dinner for all of us, using their locally produced foods so they could remember how good home grown veggies are….So I can not buy from you without an ID?
The farmer scratches his head and says, Now see, I have to be very careful. I belong to a CSA that sells to a Chipotle that is 276 miles from us, so all of my sales at market have to be local or I lose my exemption and will have to hire 5 people to take care of the paper work and then I just go out of business. So no, I can not sell to you. What is more, all the vendors here are part of the CSA, so no one here can sell to you. You have a nice day now!
No Surprises-It is Locally — Global
What we have in Tester is local Agenda 21 Sustainable Development. In sum, control over all human impact on the environment. Everything will need to be within the food shed, and if you are outside of the food shed, too bad for you. It is a great way to surveille and monitor food production and distribution. And you still fall under the broad based reason to believe of the Secretary with the Tester amendment. If the Secretary, meaning the head of the FDA or HHS thinks you may have a problem, or deems what you produce to be high risk, you will be shut down until they say you can begin again. All of your product is subject to mandatory recall; that is why you have to keep records of everyone you sell to. And you will have to register as a facility under the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, referred to as Sec 415 throughout the bill. (Knock knock—this is premises identification as in NAIS)
So please, do not tell me how great the Tester Amendment is, and that the expansive powers being granted to the DoD, DHS, HHS, FDA and USDA in this bill will be helpful to small farmers and local food production and make my food safe. Wake up and smell the coffee!!! Oh, wait. The only state that could produce coffee within 275 miles of itself, is Hawaii. Never mind. Wake up, and smell the tyranny, please.
(The best thing to do right now is to call the members of the House Ways and Means Committee as well as your own Representative and tell them they MUST blue slip S. 510. While I know it gets frustrating to call the Congress critters, the more they know that we know, the better the chance at slowing down the destruction they have planned for us. The switchboard number for Congress is 202-224-3121.)
[Note from REL: you can also use our automated email system to message all your representatives in both houses of Congress; in fact, please to both! Click Here for Action Item: http://tinyurl.com/3xdz3lp.