The catch-all government spending bill that will be among the final pieces of legislation to pass Congress this year might be a vehicle for repeal of the country-of-origin label and the federal pre-emption of state GMO labeling laws, said Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley.
He told reporters “several major ag issues” were part of the discussion about what to include in the omnibus bill. Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts may try on the Senate floor to attach language to repeal COOL, said Grassley. On Monday, the WTO said Canada and Mexico could impose up to $1.01 billion in retaliatory tariffs because the U.S. labeling law discouraged imports of meat and livestock. Grassley said GMO pre-emption language was being discussed along with a ban on the EPA carrying out its Waters of the United States regulation.
Food companies are working aggressively for the GMO provision, said Associated Press, to head off Vermont’s first-in-the-nation labeling law which takes effect on July 1. Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow said the issue is too controversial to go into the spending bill. Stabenow told the AP that “a lot” of Democratic senators oppose pre-emption. The House passed a pre-emption bill last summer but no senator has filed a similar bill.
The top negotiator on the omnibus spending bill for Democrats, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, said talks could extend into the weekend because of disagreement over more than three-dozen policy riders and a package of tax incentives, said Roll Call. Mikulski said negotiators were making “very good progress on resolving the money issues.”