Food Safety Ball Bounces Back to U.S. House With Senate Passage; Will House Take The Senate Version?
EINNEWS, November 30---Now the question is, will the U.S. House accept the Senate version of the food safety bill as it is, or will it insist on reconciling differences, requiring another round of congressional votes?
Senate proponents of the bill, led by Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin, said during floor debate that the House would go along with the Senate's version, even though the House bill was more imposing on the food industry, requiring fees from food facilities to help finance Food and Drug Administration inspection efforts.
If the House doesn't accept the Senate version a conference committee would be required and then the reconciled version would have to run the gauntlet of the legislative calendar before Congress adjourns.
That calendar already is filled with must-consider legislation, including extension of the Bush era tax cuts, appropriation of funds to keep the government running and an expected contentious debate over repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell." House and Senate leaders also hope to find time for votes on immigration reform measures.
While the House approved a food safety bill in August, 2009, the Senate couldn't muster the votes until today. Before the final 73-25 vote, it had to fend off a substitute by Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn which Harkin said would have "gutted" the bill.
With passage, Harkin said "We have taken momentous steps toward strengthening food safety in America. The Food Safety Modernization Act will help bring America's food safety system into the 21st century."
It was a rare show of bi-partisanship by a Congress mostly gridlocked on other important legislation. Twenty of the bill's co-sponsors were Republicans.
The measure gives the FDA broad powers over the food production and distribution chain and places stricter standards on imported foods. Support for the measure has grown as the consumer market has endured a rash of food recalls, including beef, eggs, spinach and celery.
Those outbreaks have exposed a lack of resources and authority at the FDA which has no authority to enforce food recalls and few resources to conduct regular inspections.
Among other things, the Senate bill requires larger food processors and manufacturers to register with the Food and Drug Administration and create detailed food safety plans; requires the FDA to create new produce safety regulations for producers of the highest-risk fruits and vegetables; establishes stricter standards for the safety of imported food and increase inspections of domestic and foreign food facilities, directing the most resources to those operations with the highest risk profiles.
Senate proponents of the bill, led by Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin, said during floor debate that the House would go along with the Senate's version, even though the House bill was more imposing on the food industry, requiring fees from food facilities to help finance Food and Drug Administration inspection efforts.
If the House doesn't accept the Senate version a conference committee would be required and then the reconciled version would have to run the gauntlet of the legislative calendar before Congress adjourns.
That calendar already is filled with must-consider legislation, including extension of the Bush era tax cuts, appropriation of funds to keep the government running and an expected contentious debate over repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell." House and Senate leaders also hope to find time for votes on immigration reform measures.
While the House approved a food safety bill in August, 2009, the Senate couldn't muster the votes until today. Before the final 73-25 vote, it had to fend off a substitute by Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn which Harkin said would have "gutted" the bill.
With passage, Harkin said "We have taken momentous steps toward strengthening food safety in America. The Food Safety Modernization Act will help bring America's food safety system into the 21st century."
It was a rare show of bi-partisanship by a Congress mostly gridlocked on other important legislation. Twenty of the bill's co-sponsors were Republicans.
The measure gives the FDA broad powers over the food production and distribution chain and places stricter standards on imported foods. Support for the measure has grown as the consumer market has endured a rash of food recalls, including beef, eggs, spinach and celery.
Those outbreaks have exposed a lack of resources and authority at the FDA which has no authority to enforce food recalls and few resources to conduct regular inspections.
Among other things, the Senate bill requires larger food processors and manufacturers to register with the Food and Drug Administration and create detailed food safety plans; requires the FDA to create new produce safety regulations for producers of the highest-risk fruits and vegetables; establishes stricter standards for the safety of imported food and increase inspections of domestic and foreign food facilities, directing the most resources to those operations with the highest risk profiles.
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