House Republicans vote to cut funds to implement food safety law

[struggle4progress]

Source: Washington Post

By Lyndsey Layton, Thursday, June 16, 9:08 PM

Arguing that the U.S. food supply is 99 percent safe, House Republicans cut millions of dollars Thursday from the Food and Drug Administration’s budget, denying the agency money to implement landmark food safety laws approved by the last Congress.

Saying the cuts were needed to lower the national deficit, the House also reduced funding to the Agriculture Department’s food safety inspection service, which oversees meat, poultry and some egg products. And lawmakers chopped $832 million from an emergency feeding program for poor mothers, infants and children. Hunger groups said that change would deny emergency nutrition to about 325,000 mothers and children.

The House also waded into a controversial issue pending at the FDA, forbidding the agency from approving the sale of genetically engineered salmon, a matter that has triggered an intense debate about the place of biotechnology in the food supply.

No Democrats voted in favor of the agriculture appropriations bill, which passed by a vote of 217 to 203. Nineteen Republicans joined the Democrats in opposition ...

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-republicans-vote-to-cut-funds-to-implement-food-safety-law/2011/06/16/AGMS82XH_story.html

[sakabatou]

1. Because food poisoning is so much fun!

[smirkymonkey]

56. Hey, we're competing with China now. We can't slack off on

these issues. :banghead:

[saras]

2. Idiot needs to learn the difference between 99% and six sigma

99% is nowhere near good enough for human food - that's three million cases of food poisoning daily.

[Harmony Blue]

5. Math doesn't matter to the Republicans

because they see the world in black and white perspective.

[A wise Man]

37. WRONG

THEY SEE IT IN ONLY "WHITE PERSPECTIVE"!!!!!!

[AlbertCat]

66. 99% is nowhere near good enough for human food

Besides, it's only 99% safe now because... OF THE CURRENT QUALITY & FREQUENCY OF INSPECTIONS (AND ETC) USING THE CURRENT BUDGET!.

Hello! :eyes:

So LESS than 99% is acceptable for Repugs.


Why don't they cut something truly wasteful? Like their salaries.

[SoapBox]

3. Bizarre...they are doing every, single thing they can...to KILL Americans.

Man...it's a death wish or something.

p.s...Talk about a DEATH PANEL.

ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, NPR, PBS...are you going to report this?

[Iliyah]

4. Where the eff

are the jobs that they promised????

[kestrel91316]

17. Well USDA FSIS is the nation's largest employer of veterinarians,

by orders of magnitude. Guess we can all go flip burgers, too.

[bulloney]

30. People on a Repub Medicare plan would blow their vouchers on food poisoning doctor visits alone.

[atreides1]

45. Not all Americans

Only most Americans!

[handmade34]

6. my husband died from

complications of food poisoning... I don't find this funny

[struggle4progress]

8. There's nothing funny about it

[handmade34]

54. congress people

seem to play this stuff like a game... money before people is destroying us; literally

[kestrel91316]

18. It's anything but funny. Lots of real live PEOPLE with names and faces

are going to die because of this extreme example of pennywise and poundfoolishness.

[PatrynXX]

75. don't confuse sarcasm and funny

nothing funny about it either. Uncle had it really bad (although that wasn't the worst thing but nevermind)

Get it often and even if your Vegan, well Germany proofed that one well. Bean Sprouts again...

Sorry for your loss however. Clearly Right Wing Repukes don't know how many lives they are playing with. Members of the Public should inform them..

[jmowreader]

7. If House Republicans were getting poisoned by their food...

we wouldn't be having this discussion.

They could also lower the national deficit by repealing the Bush-era tax cuts, but no one ever thinks about that.

[Wally Pipp]

9. No, this is not funny in the least.

They are attempting to offset a $14 trillion debt by searching for pennies on the street.

And they are only looking for pennies under the streetlamps, where the light is better.

[Orrex]

10. I think you're exaggerating

They're also taking pennies out of the pockets of the poor.

[AlbertCat]

68. They are attempting to offset a $14 trillion debt ...

No they're not!

They are pretending.


Anyone SERIOUS about the debt would be

1. getting rid of Bush tax cuts
2. Reducing the defense budget
3. insisting Corporations pay a minimum mandatory tax.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

99. Another thing needed to do... TAX THE CHURCH

[newspeak]

110. well, maybe they can find the 2.3 trillion that was

allegedly unaccounted for at the Pentagon and then they can find where the billions of cash flown to Iraq went. Yeah, why don't they go looking for that money instead of screwing the plebes.

[Shining Jack]

11. To the 217 who voted in favor of this disgusting bill:

I wish you severe diarrhea, at the very least. :grr:

[pansypoo53219]

13. no. they need it to flow out both ends.

or maybe have their kid get sick. THEN they might see the light.

[awoke_in_2003]

79. yep, I want them....

sitting on the pot holding a bucket for the other end- I have been there, done that.

[999998th word]

113. If they are shitting and puking @ the same time

they couldn't watch or hear faux news......green shoots??

maybe they could reconsider their priorities-wait-never mind.

They're pathetic wastes of skin.



:wtf: :sarcasm:

[eilen]

32. I hope they get C-Diff. nt

[999998th word]

12. Back to the days of 'The Jungle'

Book written by Upton Sinclair before 1910.

The public outrage over the food processing industry exposed in this book was instrumental in the

implementation of the pure food and drug act laws.

The RW would like to see us revert back to the days of the robber barons, no government oversight ,and no hope of any future.

[awoke_in_2003]

89. it also showed...

how the worker was treated in the workplace. We are going back to 1910 in that regard, too.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

14. Love the fetus, hate the child

A true pro-life agenda:

(L)awmakers chopped $832 million from an emergency feeding program for poor mothers, infants and children. Hunger groups said that change would deny emergency nutrition to about 325,000 mothers and children.

I wonder where they got their "99% is safe" figure from? Probably the same source from which Sen. Jon Kyl (R-dumbshit) relied on when he said on the floor of the Senate that abortion services are “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.” When called upon this blatant lie, his office issued a press release stating it was "not intended to be a factual statement."

[Sherman A1]

26. Precisely

:banghead:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. I won't say what I'm wishing.

But I am wishing it.

[Sherman A1]

28. May I join you?

I think you are spot on.

[kestrel91316]

16. Prepare for MANY more needless E. coli O157:H7 deaths. Not to mention

Salmonella and lots of other dangerous stuff.

Heck, eliminate FSIS altogether. Industry can police itself just fine. Upton Sinclair and Teddy Roosevelt were commie pinkos and full of shit.

[libmom74]

19. Shall we start a collection to buy a veto

pen for Obama? Apparently his doesn't function.

[defendandprotect]

24. +1000% -- that is our political reality today -- sadly so -- !!

[AlbertCat]

69. Apparently his doesn't function.

It must pass the Senate too, does it not?

I doubt it will.

[kath]

86. Let's buy him a goddam backbone while we're at it.

[aggiesal]

20. Conservatives are always saying that they want a smaller government ...

until they need the government.

Wait until the next time a fast food restaurant has
an outbreak of ecoli, they'll be asking why the government
didn't catch this before it entered the system.

L      OO    SSS  EEEEE RRRR   SSS  !!
L     O  O  S   S E     R   R S   S !!
L    O    O  SS   EEE   R   R  SS   !!
L    O    O   SS  E     RRRR    SS  1!
L     O  O  S   S E     R   R S   S
LLLLL  OO    SSS  EEEEE R   R  SSS  !!

[Beartracks]

22. And then they'll complain that govt is ineffective...

... and try to privatize the food health industry. You know: pay more to get a better "food insurance" plan, or some such. Premium plans would come with food tasters, like the kings used to have!

=================================

[newspeak]

109. Little Boots already did some trimming of USDA and FDA

these pathetic sociopaths actually mean small government when it comes to their corporate friends-but big government when it comes to invading citizens' privacy and controlling the masses. How much did they pour into Homeland Security--we already had the means and capacity to stop an attack-they've even hired for profit private corporations for intel. I wouldn't trust a corporation, especially one that's more global, with the security of the country.

Yeah, we got the robber barons, but on a global scale now, and I really, really doubt they're for americans or have an allegiance to this country. I'd say they have more of an allegiance to profit and the power gained by profit.

[Beartracks]

21. 99% of drivers don't speed. Guess we don't need cops.

Republican "logic."

:eyes:

==================================

[defendandprotect]

23. More deregulation to permit more corporate crime --

[kimsarah]

25. Is there any video

of the floor debate on this? I'd be curious to see which Democrats -- perhaps Pelosi or Wasserman-Shultz -- tore apart the Republicans for this cruel and senseless act. I'd also be interested in seeing Obama's comments on this bill Friday.

[kath]

88. "which Democrats,,,tore apart the Republicans for this cruel" -

oh, I'm sure LOTS of them did - they're such tough fighters.

[alp227]

27. Do the Republicans not realize it'll cost more bc of more health problems?

Wow, "cutting" is so attractive it blinds the real effects. And the Republicans were whining in 2009 and 2010 about "socialized medicine" that would bankrupt America...wonder if any minds will be changed when more cases of E coli infections etc. come up and emergency rooms get more crowded...this needs to be put on blast next year, Democrats need to make sure that voters know that Republicans are watching out for the corporations and Powers that Be, not me, you, and your neighbors

[OnionPatch]

48. They don't plan on paying for anyone's health problems.

You'll be on your own when the food poisons you.

[Hubert Flottz]

29. They want to depopulate America too.

Too many mouths to feed already their "EXPERTS" must think. Anything to keep the wealthy a little more wealthy.

[liberal N proud]

31. This is preposterous

[Lucky Luciano]

33. You people are all so uptight.

I personally enjoy salmonella.

[smirkymonkey]

59. This shows they really care about us - they just want us to lose

a little weight so we won't be so susceptible to heart disease and diabetes. I'm so touched.

:sarcasm:

[Vinca]

34. Well, the next time there is a deadly e coli outbreak that kills little kids,

we'll know who to blame. Assholes.

[A wise Man]

35. So they want to

flood the country with cheap tainted food that could poison you or make you very very sick. I wonder how many rethug voters will get sick and die??? Its ok tho..."THEY DON'T WANT HEALTHCARE ANYWAY"!!!!!

[AlbertCat]

70. So they want to flood the country with cheap tainted food

Why not? They had Halliburton do it to the military.

[RKP5637]

36. Great, poisoned food supplies are wonderful! Let's see how fast we can bring

America to a third world nation and decrease the population along the way. Why my fellow citizens vote these assholes into office is beyond me to comprehend anymore. I think this country has the Stupid virus. There are better places to live and make investments in the 21st century than America.

[Stuart G]

38. Here is a link to who voted ...and which Republicans went with the poor

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2011-459&utm_source=@HouseFloor

[DainBramaged]

39. When the roads are impassable, children die en masse from food poisoning, and our power grid fails

will Republicans then decide we need to invest in this country?


Nah.

[StarsInHerHair]

105. I doubt it, they'll says something about how birth control pills caused it

[Solly Mack]

40. K&R

[Stuart G]

41. Pukes actually cut more than 10 percent from safety (from what is spent now)

"Republican leaders in the House pared back that to $750 million, which is $87 million less than the agency currently is receiving for food safety."..............from futher down in the article................

[RKP5637]

42. They are stupid and ignorant. It's what the voters vote in and apparently want. Their goal is to

completely destroy America. I wish Americans would wake up and realize what the republicans are about. What is comical in a sad way are the poor and disenfranchised that think the republicans are their buddies. It's really getting pathetic.

[Politicalboi]

43. I only have one thing to say

Soylent Green Is PEOPLE! Coming to a city near you.

[RoccoR5955]

44. Someone get some rat poison for the Congressional Dining Room! n/t

[SaveAmerica]

46. Why do they think it's 99% safe? Duh!! Keep the guvmint outta my life!!

[Stuart G]

47. I think about this...it almost unbelievable.."chopped 832 million in emergency funding .."

[chelsea0011]

49. Nothing wrong with thinning the herd

Most susceptible to food illnesses are children who go to school and are a burden to cities and towns and the elderly who waste vital resources with hospital visits. It's a cost savings measure.:sarcasm:

[hobbit709]

51. May these assholes suffer the fate of the rich in

Masque Of the Red Death.

[kestrel91316]

96. [phone]. May the Law of Threefold Return be applied to each and every

one of them.

So. Mote. It. Effin'. Be.

[Lars39]

100. Hope they remember herds have hooves.

[hobbit709]

50. so they're willing to risk over 3 million lives a year is what they are saying.

[Stuart G]

55. The Republicans do not care about 3 million lives..they are poor.nt

[Quantess]

52. Of course.

Not surprising at all.
How about chopping the defense budget instead?

[jayschool]

53. 99 percent

If you're lucky enough to eat three meals a day, you eat about 100 meals in a month.

All you have to do is figure out which meal it is in a particular month that will make you sick. Then skip it.

Simply unbelievable.

[kestrel91316]

97. Simple fix: don't eat so many meals. Most folks are useless eaters anyway.

:sarcasm:

[Botany]

57. We should win the next elections by 100 billion votes ...

..... except in Oklahoma because any state that can vote in Coburn and Inhofe as senators :crazy:

[Frisbee]

58. 99%, sounds good to me.

Hopefully a drug resistant strain of E. Coli will break out at the Repuke convention.

[Stuart G]

60. More info on the what the Republicans cut...

from Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/16/food-aid-republicans_n_878374.html



It would cut the Women, Infants and Children program, which offers food aid and educational support for low-income mothers and their children, by $868 million, or 13 percent from the current level. An international food assistance program that provides emergency aid and agricultural development would drop by more than $450 million, one-third of the program's budget.

The bill would trim the FDA's $2.5 billion budget by almost 12 percent, straining the agency's ability to implement a new food safety law signed by President Barack Obama this year.

[Harmony Blue]

67. Wow...

WIC is a very important program and this saddens me greatly. It sinks my heart to learn of this news.

[kiranon]

61. Make it a campaign issue in each of their districts/states. n/t

[valerief]

62. Congress gets their own non-GMO, hydroponic, non-Fukushima-affected food.

Why should they care about the hoi polloi? What incentive do they have to care? It's not like the hoi polloi is threatening them or anything. In fact, the hoi polloi military protects them. The hoi polloi private military protects them, too. They are immune from our wrath. Unfortunately.

[DallasNE]

63. GOP Members Should Pick Up A Newspaper

If they would bother to read a newspaper once in awhile they might learn something. In Germany there is a raging E Coli outbreak that has so far killed 27 people. The original source has not yet been identified but it is though to be somewhere in northern Germany.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/world/europe/10iht-ecoli10.html

The GOP is playing Russian Roulette with these cuts in food safety. They should be ashamed.

[Stuart G]

64. Yes, they should be ashamed, they are ashamed of nothing...

[FlyByNight]

65. If you get food poisoning or die as a result of what you eat...

...then those foods will be avoided and that company will go out of business. See? The free market in action.

The Republican Party is a cancer.

[felix_numinous]

71. Eat local, grow local

have your own garden if you can. That is the safest and cheapest thing to do these days. Support your local organic farmer.

[PatrynXX]

72. all those eggs are safe

So as food poisonings increase. so does the level of IQ in the Republicans...

[glinda]

73. "Arguing that the U.S. food supply is 99 percent safe". Tell my poisoned pets that.

[Hissyspit]

74. Extremists.

Shock doctrine at work.

[SOS]

76. Corporate lackeys at work

5,000 dead annually
300,000 hospitalized
2 million poisonings

Let's drive those numbers up.

Maybe Big Agra and the Republicans can kill 10,000 a year!

Thousands dying a brutal, painful death from E. Coli or a five cent drop in some a-hole's stock price?
For 217 corporate-owned Republicans, the choice is clear.

[crim son]

77. I would shed no tears if one of those who voted yes

got a little e-coli from some uninspected produce and lost a kidney. Or something.

[kestrel91316]

98. They won't give a damn until their own children start dying.

[Harriety]

78. That'll help create jobs. For sure..... When are they going to pass something meanigful????

[indepat]

80. The depravity in the pubs' priorities is absolutely breathtaking and

transparent for all but the blind and blinded by the right to see. :patriot:

[HowHasItComeToThis]

81. REPUBLICANS ARE DESTROYING ALL THEY CAN

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[garthranzz]

82. I hope everyone of them gets food poisoning

And is then denied coverage by their insurance companies and are then forced into bankruptcy because they can't afford their mortgages.

Actions have consequences.

[jtuck004]

83. So perhaps some billboards giving credit for food poisoning deaths to

these 217 good people?

Maybe we could offer free pictures of their representatives to adorn the gravestones of their loved ones that die of food poisoning?

Pictures of a real death panel, maybe a collage of the 217?

These people count on doing things somewhat hidden away in their well-paid jobs, count on the only publicity being their friends at Faux...

Among people with kids and, frankly, people who eat food, pictures of food with e-coli (which doesn't look any different, btw) there woud be some backlash.

The food growers won't care, but does anyone else care enough, and have a little funding, to make this an issue?

A whole separate issue are the 325,000 hungry families this will create...

[wordpix]

84. repugs thumbing noses at food safety, poor infants and children---priceless!

:sarcasm:

Let them eat cake! Oh, they can't afford that, either? Let them eat nothing while we get our tax cuts for the rich.
Re:puke:s

[wordpix]

85. smart Dems should make ads out of this one - maybe it will bring poor people to the polls

in bigger numbers, not to mention those who care

[kath]

90. "smart Dems" who will speak out?

How many of them are there? Maybe 10? 15 at most?

They're so utterly inept at getting any sort of message out.
On the other hand, how many of them do you think even give a shit about poor people? Only maybe at election time, when they want votes. Rest of the time, they're ALL about the corporations.

[drm604]

87. Penny wise and pound foolish.

What's the cost of treating all of the new cases of food poisoning?

These people are idiots. Idiots with no morality.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

91. If it gets through the Senate, will the president veto? n/t

[Stuart G]

92. New York Times does not think this was a key vote...here is link

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/index.html

Look at Key Votes in Congress...House...or look for it..More Political News................
...not there eh?


It was this morning, but now, at 1:33 EASTERN it is not important anymore...just think about that one..

[Bragi]

93. Americans don't need food safety and food for the poor

Finally, my reading of the confusing WP article in the OP, these are the cuts the GOP voted for:

- Food safety cutback -- $240 million

- Food for poorest cutback -- $832 million

Is that correct?

Whatever the numbers, I note from the article that the GOP, no matter how much they would like to directly help the poorest, continues to do its Xian best to put in place conditions that will encourage all human creatures to look after themselves/pound sand, get hungrier, sicker, become billionaires, it's all up to them, etc.

As for food safety, the background idea for the cuts may be for retail chains serving less-poor areas to just "do it" and hire firms to provide food inspection services specifically for them. Meanwhile, those who can't afford these services, or who wish to exercise their right not to eat food, can look after themselves/pound sand.

Or maybe the retailers could have a of separately-branded "independent" chain of stores located in less-robustly-affluent areas that offer cheaper food that isn't inspected, and people can just do the food inspection themselves/pound sand, whatever.

It's this exact sort of prospect, one that years ago could have been dismissed as pure science fiction, it's this sort of thing that makes me feel like a big dark curtain is in the process of falling. That, or I have a medication issue.

Maybe both?

- B

[UrbScotty]

94. But, but, but... there are no differences between Democrats and Republicans!

:sarcasm:

Oh, and so much for Republicans being moral!

[ThoughtCriminal]

95. You would think this could create career ending campaign ads

15 seconds about recent outbreaks of contaminated food illnesses and deaths, recalls and scandals. 15 seconds about the cuts and their impact on food safety. It should kill re-election chances.

But this is America in the 21st century, so I know it won't happen.

[StarsInHerHair]

108. email moveon.org about it? hopefully some group will make an ad using this

very real, very revealing info

[bergie321]

101. At Least

This bill also banned the Frankenfish salmon from being approved.

[rpannier]

102. I'll be interested in how long it will take before food imports from the US are restricted again

here in Asia

[Lorien]

103. This is the "pro-life" "Christian" party, right?

Lurking Freepers need to stop and try something novel; reading the above and thinking for themselves. Oh, and actually reading the words attributed to Jesus Christ might be helpful to them as well (try the Jefferson Bible).

[The Wizard]

104. It's their way

of culling the Social Security beneficiaries.

[oldbanjo]

106. Do you really want to know if Japan contaminates your food supply.

[MadMaddie]

107. Ah nothing like Americans dying from tainted food

When this happens, note I said, "when it happens" the Republicans will act like they didn't vote for the cuts. They will say that the FDA is broken and should be privatized. Their biggest problem is that the people that "WILL" die will also be their Teabagger supporters.... death by tainted food doesn't select particular demographics......

[OwnedByFerrets]

111. Let them eat cake....even if its tainted, its still cake

:sarcasm:

[pinniped]

112. I don't think this supposed 99% safety rating will last if these....

Assholes have their way.