Oregon reps' roll call votes for HR 4167 (federalize food labeling)

[0rganism]

Aye
Hooley (D)
Walden (R)

Nay
Blumenauer (D)
DeFazio (D)
Wu (D)

HR 4167 passes, 283 to 139

(Seattle PI)House acts to end some food label warnings

[depakid]

1. Hooley, eh. Figures....

Of course, we know where old frozen peas Smith stands on this one.

I'd say I haven't seen a worse piece of legislation in my life- except that I've seen several- all in the last year or two. All supported (and some passsed only with the help of) Democrats.

[Robert Oak]

2. Write Hooley

and express disappointment.

She responds when a barage of correspondence hits her way only.

[depakid]

3. The woman doesn't need to act this way

Whatever bit of credibility she had with me is now GONE. Her vote on this bill tells me that she's corrupt and completely lacks integrity. This was a vote to protect her industry contributions at the expense of her constituents. Oregon deserves MUCH better than that- especially since one of our laws that requires the disclosure "salvaged" food will be one of those preempted.

She can now mark me (and others in the public health community) as people very interested in complicating her bid for re-election. People like Hooley need to ousted- period- and I'm to the point where I don't care whether that takes seating a Republican for a term to do it.

[jobendorfer]

4. Response from Hooley

I sent an email to Hooley urging her to vote against this bill. Last night,
I got a snail mail response that attempted to justify her support for this
bill.

Hooley claims that the major problems with HR4167 were addressed by the
following amendments:

(a) Allows states to set tolerance levels for substances in food if the
FDA has NOT set a standard. If an FDA standard exists, it must be enforced;
states may NOT impose stricter standards than the FDA's.

(b) An amendment that prohibits the law from going into "affect" (*) until
after HHS and DHS have certified the bill poses no additional threat to
public health;

(c) An amendment that expedites consideration of state petitions seeking
national warning requirements or exemptions from uniformity;

(d) An amendment that protects warnings about the presence of mercury
in fish or shellfish.

I interpret this list of amendments to basically mean that:

BEFORE HR4167: Oregon was free to set its own standards and policies
about food labeling;

AFTER HR4167: Oregon must now depend on the good will and disposition
of whatever incompetents and/or corrupted individuals our Sociopath-
In-Chief appoints to manage food labeling at the Federal level.

Thanks, Darlene. I feel SO much safer.

J.