Leaders of the Republican-controlled House tentatively set Thursday for debate of HR 1599, which would prevent states from requiring labels on food made with genetically modified organisms and keep labeling voluntary on the federal level. A vote, with passage all but guaranteed, could be held the same day.
By one gauge, support for the bill has surged in the past week. A quarter of the 435 U.S. representatives are listed as co-sponsors, up from the five dozen who backed the bill before it was approved by the Agriculture Committee last Tuesday.
Farm groups and foodmakers say federal pre-emption will assure a uniform market, rather than a potential array of varying state laws, for a technology that is safe. “For years, certain groups have used fear and falsehood to demonize food as part of a campaign to drive it out of the marketplace,” said Chuck Connor, of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives in an op-ed in Roll Call. Some 70 to 80 percent of products sold in grocery stores contain GMOs.
Foes such as the National Organic Coalition and the Just Label It campaign are trying to build opposition to the bill among lawmakers on grounds the bill unfairly muzzles state and local government.
Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO food-labeling law is to take effect next July 1.
The legislative clock begins ticking today in order for the House to debate the bill on Thursday. The House Rules Committee set a deadline of 3 p.m. ET for representatives to submit proposed amendments to HR 1599, with the warning that it “could limit the amendment process for floor consideration.” The committee, the gatekeeper to the floor, is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET to consider which amendments, if any, to allow to be debated and how much time the House should devote to the bill. The House must ratify the proposed format for debate before a bill can be called for consideration.
Proponents hope a strong vote in favor of the bill will spur action in the Senate, where no one is championing the proposal. By comparison, there are companion House and Senate bills that would require GMO food labeling, and the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a rider last week to put labels on genetically engineered salmon, if the fish gets FDA approval.
The administration has not taken a position on HR 1599.
Given the difficulty of passing a stand-alone bill in the polarized atmosphere of Congress, there is speculation the labeling issue will become a rider on a must-pass bill later this year.