Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy, Taxes | Tags: National Food Supply, Power Grab, Regularatory Control
Power grab. More regulatory control over the nation’s food supply in all its complexity. New and sweeping powers to wreak havoc on small farmers. Dangerously broad, one-size-fits-all regulation that includes no checks and balances.
The U.S. Senate passed Tuesday what is called a food-safety modernization bill, S-510, which grants the Food and Drug Administration extensive new powers to recall tainted foods, increase inspections, demand accountability from food companies and oversee farming transportation and storage. The new powers would overlap the jurisdictions of the Dept. of Agriculture and other agencies that oversee food safety.
In 2006, there were 51.2 cases of confirmed food-induced bacterial contamination per 100,000 people. By 2009 the rate had fallen to 34.8 cases per 100,000 people — 1/3 fewer. It is worth pointing out that food producers care very deeply about keeping their food free of contamination, for a case that makes people sick can destroy their business. The bill imposes hundreds of millions of dollars of expenses on the private sector, taxpayers would have to shell out an additional $1.4 billion from 2011-2015 to pay for the FDA to do all this new regulation.
The Food and Drug Administration regulates about 25¢ out of every dollar spent in the economy. Unsurprisingly, it does nothing well. Small farms and local and organic food outfits don’t have the profit margins to comply with the new burdens imposed by all this bureaucratic nonsense. The House version applied even to farmers markets and roadside stands. Big Agribusiness has leveraged government to shackle their smaller competitors.
Democrats will look at this bill and see their goals of a safer food supply. Republicans will see the results — a bloated department forcing many small companies out of business, lots more regulation that may not do anything to improve food safety, overlapping jurisdictions with other government agencies, and no cost-benefit. But lots more discretionary control and more unnecessary enforcement.
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Interesting roll-call vote.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s2010-257
All Democratic Senators, and both Independent Senators, voted for the bill. Most Republican Senators voted against. But 15 voted for it. What one sees is, essentially, a north-south divide: all the Republican Senators who voted for the bill represent northern-tier states.
Comment by Subsidy Eye December 3, 2010 @ 10:35 pmNice video here:
http://www.govtrackinsider.com/articles/2010-10-15/s510
“It’s like writing a blank check for the FDA”
Comment by Subsidy Eye December 3, 2010 @ 11:38 pmPart of the problem is that Congress has got in the habit of writing broad general legislation with the understanding that departments of the administration will take over at that point and write the regulations which they will then administer. This is inclined to mean that Congress really has no clue about what they are passing. Like Nancy Pelosi said, “we’ll have to wait till we pass it to find out what’s in it.” That is not careful legislation, it’s passing the buck. Congressmen can posture and preen about broad generalities–if it’s a Democrat bill, about the goals or intent. But since they don’t know what the regulation will entail, they are relieved of any responsibility for the results. And if people squawk too much, they can just do another general bit of legislation to fix it, and the Federal Register just keeps on expanding. Hell of a way to run a country.
Comment by The Elephant's Child December 4, 2010 @ 1:22 amFair, enough. But do you have any insights into the reason for the geographic split between those Northern Elephant Senators who voted for the bill, and the Southern Pachyderm Senators who voted against it?
Comment by Subsidy Eye December 4, 2010 @ 1:42 amOnly a guess. The Northern Republicans are all “moderates” like the ladies from Maine. As moderates they are thinking about food safety and good lunches for the children. The Southern Republicans are more conservative and concerned about the intrusion into individual rights and the federal grab for power over farmers and businesses they have no need to regulate.
Food safety is a very big deal to any food producer. Making a lot of people sick, or worse, would get them sued, their brand might be anathema in the market place. Remember the cranberry scare and the phony Alar scare. That destroyed a lot of farms. The legislation is a combination of an overreaching government with a deep belief that government knows best (which is patent nonsense) and a bit of grandstanding for a public they believe to be ignorant — saying ‘we liberal elite will take care of you.”
Wasn’t it earlier this year that there was a big scare about spinach? then they thought it was tomatoes. The investigation took ages, but it turned out to be some jalapenos from Mexico. As you can see, I’m fuzzy on the details. Was it a salad bar, or prepared salad? I can’t remember. We have a n Agriculture Department that I believe has far more employees than there are farmers in the country, and should be thinned out drastically. The FDA is a subject of constant complaints for their poor job of drug approval, they can’t manage what they have on their plates at present. Stupid legislation, and the Maine ladies should be ashamed of themselves.
Comment by The Elephant's Child December 4, 2010 @ 11:16 pm