Monsanto Rider in the SenateAt this very moment, a Continuing Resolution (CR) for the big Appropriations funding bill is being debated on the Senate floor. It’s supposed to be about funding the government, but the Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (who has always stood by our side in the past), has included a dangerous GMO rider that has no place in a funding bill. This is the same rider we’ve told you about before—the so-called Farmer Assurance Provision (Section 735) that will strip federal courts of the authority to halt the sale and planting of illegal, potentially hazardous genetically engineered crops while USDA is performing an environmental impact statement.
This Monsanto-driven rider is simply a biotech industry ploy to continue to plant GE crops even when a court of law has found they were approved illegally. The good news is that we have a window, albeit a small one: amendments will be offered over the next couple days, and then it will go to conference committee, which will reconcile the House bill (which was passed without the GMO rider language) with this Senate bill. The bad news is that during the previous Congress, the House passed a bill with this exact same GMO language, so the House is unlikely to oppose it if the Senate includes it. RIGHT NOW, TODAY, is our best—and perhaps our only—chance to have the GMO language pulled. Government funding expires on March 27, and the CR is a “must-pass” before that deadline, so we need a big push from you and other concerned citizens RIGHT NOW. Forward this email to everyone you know and urge them take immediate action by sending a quick message through our Action Alert system. The Alliance for Natural Health USA 1350 Connecticut Ave NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20036 Ph: 800.230.2762 www.anh-usa.org |