Ninety percent of Americans support mandatory labeling of food with genetically modified ingredients. But Congress hasn’t gotten the message. In July, the House passed H.R. 1599 – the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act – and the Senate could be taking the bill up any day now. To change the game on food labeling, we have to make our voices heard. We need to call our Senators offices and let them know that we demand labeling of GMO’s. Citizens in 64 nations around the world know what’s in the food they’re feeding their families.  Let your Senators know that you and your family deserve the same right. Call their offices today.

Does your Thanksgiving Turkey come with a side of Ractopamine?

We must make our voices heard and tell the FDA to ban the use of the drug ractopamine as a growth-promoting feed additive for turkey, pork and cattle production. Ractopamine is linked with serious health and behavioral problems in animals, and while human health studies are limited, those that exist raise serious concerns. Ractopamine is banned or severely limited in dozens of countries. It is time for the U.S. to join the international community in banning this risky drug.

The FDA has allowed widespread use of ractopamine in turkey feed since its approval in 2008 without conducting scientific studies that document the risks of ractopamine to human and animal health.
That’s why the Center for Food Safety, the Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approving ractopamine for use in turkey feed without fully examining how the drug affects people, animals and the environment.
Ractopamine mimics stress hormones causing the turkeys, pigs and cattle that eat it to convert feed to muscle more quickly. That is bad news for consumers since both USDA and Consumer Reports have found residues of ractopamine in meat samples. That’s because there’s no mandatory withdrawal period for the drug – ractopamine can be fed to turkeys right up until the day they are slaughtered!
Unlike the U.S., dozens of countries, including the 27 members of the European Union, China, and Taiwan, ban or strictly limit the use of ractopamine. Yet the U.S. continues to approve ractopamine and drugs like it at break-neck pace.
Tell the FDA to protect human health and animal welfare by banning the use of ractopamine in turkey, beef and pork production!

We urge you to ask your Senators to reject any Senate version of Rep. Pompeo’s “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act,” (H.R. 1599) which prohibits states from requiring the labeling of GMO foods and prohibits any local control of how GMOs are regulated. This bill, promoted by the Grocery Manufacturers Association, would prevent states from requiring GMO labels at any time. In fact, this bill is so anti-consumer that it is commonly referred to as the Deny Americans the Right to Know (or DARK) Act. The Senate needs to stand up for consumers and to reject any version of this industry bill. Over 90% of voters support requiring labels for GMOs. State legislatures are responding to citizens on an issue that the Food and Drug Administration and Congress have ignored for years. Industry should not use Congress to undermine the public’s right to know or the decisions of state legislatures that are responding to what their citizens want.

Washington, D.C. & Capitol Hill are probably the purist and most honest places to be since Congress has taken its summer vacation/ “recess.” All of those on Capitol Hill, including the president, have followed in Elvis’s footsteps and have “left the building.”  Anxious to join the hordes of lawmakers, lobbyists and others who turn Washington into a political ghost town every August and early September, the president changed his vacation plans & left town 1 day earlier than planned. (Hopefully, this vacation will not be as costly as his European jaunts, since he is staying in the mainline states this time). This vacation/”Constituent work period” will keep Washington clean from July 31 – Sept. 7.

Congress will quickly have their hands full when returning from the August recess, and with just nine legislative days scheduled in September, both chambers will need to move quickly in order to address a full slate of looming deadlines and pressing concerns.  Among the most critical of these issues will be funding the government beyond its current September 30 expiration, with a continuing resolution (CR) appearing to be an inevitable short-term solution. Other legislative priorities this fall will include raising the debt ceiling, negotiating  a long-term highway bill, reopening the Export-Import bank, reforming tax provisions (extenders and international taxation), and Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) using the reconciliation process.

Prior to the adjournment, a group of 18 House conservatives told GOP leaders that they will not support any measure to fund the government if it continues to fund Planned Parenthood. When you consider that another 150 House Republicans sponsored legislation from Rep. Dianne Black (R-TN) blocking Planned Parenthood funding until the current investigations are completed, the hot-button issue could create problems for leaders seeking to avoid a government shutdown in October.

Republicans are preparing to unveil their plans for using budget reconciliation soon after returning from the five-week summer break, and have already indicated their intentions on using the budgetary process to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Earlier this month, House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) definitively said that Republicans “want to use reconciliation to go after ObamaCare,” but qualified the statement by saying a full repeal may be beyond the capacity of reconciliation.  And Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy indicated last week that GOP leaders plan to reveal their plans in “a short amount of time when we get back.”

A July 24 deadline when committees were to report legislation for a reconciliation bill was in the budget resolution passed by the House and Senate.  However, the reconciliation deadline is seen as more of an aspiration by the Senate parliamentarian’s office and has been missed before, both in 2009 and 2005.  Reconciliation bills receive filibuster protection in the Senate, giving the majority a chance to pass legislation that otherwise would be blocked by a united minority party.

In the spring, Republican leaders said reconciliation would only be used to pass legislation to repeal the ACA, but since the Supreme Court’s decision in the Obama administration’s favor, there has been talk of other potential uses for the budgetary procedure. Some Republicans have argued that reconciliation would be put to better use to pass a measure the President is more likely to sign. This includes more minor changes to the health care law, such as a repeal of the medical device tax, which is unpopular among many Democrats as well as Republicans. Many Democrats are open to making changes to the law, but given the rare opportunity  reconciliation presents, anything short of a full repeal may be seen as disappointing to the Republican base.

Chemicals – Legislation to reform the nation’s primary chemical statute is expected to be considered in the Senate after recess. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act would overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for the first   time since it became law in 1976.

Healthcare – Committee action is expected on a number of major healthcare bills over the coming months, setting up potential floor consideration later this fall and into 2016.  The Ways and Means Committee plans work on four recently-introduced bills to alter Medicare reimbursement for hospitals and various specialty providers.  The Senate Finance Committee plans to unveil a draft chronic care bill upon returning from the recess, expected to draw from the 500+ recommendations they received in June.  And the Senate HELP Committee is inching closer finalizing their Innovation for Healthier Americans initiative—a bill expanding on the House-passed 21^st Century Cures Act—which Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) hopes to complete by December.

AMERICAN HEALTH CARE REFORM ACT OF 2015 (H.R. 2653) was introduced in the House on June 4, 2015 (H.R. 2653) & sent to committee on June 15, 2015.

This bill proposes “to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and related reconciliation provision, to promote patient-centered health care to provide for the creation of a safe harbor for defendants in medical malpractice actions who demonstrate adherence to clinical practice guidelines and for other purposes.” This bill proposes to amend many items, including an amendment to current section 213, regarding Medical, dental, etc., expenses.

It is proposed to add “Certain Nutritional and Dietary Supplements to Be Treated as Medical Care”.

The Bill if amended would add the following language, “NUTRITIONAL AND DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS. (A) IN

GENERAL. The term ‘medical care’ shall include amounts paid to purchase herbs, vitamins, minerals, homeopathic remedies, meal replacement products, and other dietary and nutritional supplements. (B) LIMITATION. Amounts treated as medical care under subparagraph (A) shall not exceed $1,000 with respect to any individual for any taxable year. (C) MEAL REPLACEMENT PRODUCT. For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘meal replacement product’ means any product that (1) is permitted to bear labeling making a claim described in section 403(r)(3) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and(2) is permitted to claim under such section that such product is low in fat and is a good source of protein, fiber, and multiple essential vitamins and minerals. (b) EFFECTIVE DATE. The amendment made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.”

Nature’s Sunshine Legal will monitor and provide updates on this newly introduced legislation.

 

What is a bill? The “H.R.” in “H.R. 2653” means the bill originated in the House of Representatives. Every proposed bill is assigned a number. The bill’s title is written by its sponsor. A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.

(Since we don’t live in fantasy land, we know that neither the House nor the Senate ever jointly agree on a bill).