***USA - ACTION ALERT***

NAIS in Appropriations Bill

The 2009 omnibus Appropriations bill, HR 1105, passed the House last week; the Senate began consideration of the bill March 2, making appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.  The bill includes $14.5 million of funding for NAIS, which is significantly less than the amount requested by the USDA for FY 2009.
 
Representative Obey (D-WI) included a statement in the Congressional Record about the intended uses of the appropriations for the USDA, including timelines and performance goals for NAIS.  [Click here for excerpt.]  This statement does not mandate NAIS because it is not part of the bill itself.  But it implies approval of USDA’s Business Plan and pushes USDA to move forward with implementing it, including the use of existing disease control programs and other coercive tactics to implement NAIS. 
 
Call your Senators and ask that they support an amendment to strip the NAIS funding out of the bill!  You can find your Senators' contact information at www.congress.org or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

The good news is that it appears that the provision that would have required the School Lunch Program to buy meats only from NAIS-registered farms did NOT make it into the omnibus Appropriations bill.  Thank you to everyone who contacted their Congressmen last summer and fall to oppose that provision! [Click here for Rosa DeLauro’s statement, see page 6]

To read the Omnibus Appropriations bill, go to www.thomas.gov and enter "HR 1105" in the search box.  Click the option for "Bill Number" and then hit "search."  Rep. Obey's explanatory statement can be read by clicking on the link for "H1653-H2088" under "Note" (towards the top of the page of the search result).  [Click here for a listing of content]

OTHER NEWS:

The House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry has announced that it will hold a hearing on Wednesday, March 11, on “animal identification programs.” The agenda and list of witnesses is not yet public.  Look for an alert as soon as we get more information!