FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:   Laura Johnston
November 24, 2003     
ljohnston@nfudc.org
202.314.3104

NFU Continues Fight for COOL Amid Threats
 
WASHINGTON (Nov. 24, 2003) – National Farmers Union blames meatpackers, large food processors and the Bush administration for the recent actions by the majority leaders of the appropriations conference committee to delay the mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law for two years.
“This two-year delay is undoubtedly a tactic to make this widely popular law more vulnerable to repeal after the presidential elections,” said NFU President Dave Frederickson. “It is a travesty that U.S. consumers’ interests are losing out to pressure from the retailers, packers and processors, who all have aggressively fought this law since its inception.”
The delay will effectively kill COOL for meats, fruits and vegetables. Wild fish would be the only food item exempt from the delay, which should prove beneficial for salmon fishermen in Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens’ state of Alaska.
“There is definitely something fishy about this process,” Frederickson said.  “When this law has been addressed in the light of day it has had broad bipartisan support. In 1998, the Senate passed COOL by a voice vote, only for it to be left on the chopping block floor behind closed doors. Thanks to the more than 50 million Americans who support COOL, it was revived and signed into law in the 2002 farm bill. The Senate recently revoiced its strong bipartisan support for COOL with 58 votes and now a deal has been struck behind closed doors by the majority leadership of the committees with no recourse for individual members of Congress except for an up-or-down vote on the omnibus spending measure.  What is wrong with this picture?”
Frederickson said he has no doubt that the COOL law would have prevailed if the conference negotiations were conducted in a democratic fashion. Instead, the majority leadership of the conference committee reportedly excluded minority party members from the process.
“Consumers, farmers and ranchers will not stand for this kind of behind-the-scenes fleecing,” Frederickson said. “To put this beneficial law on a shelf to wait for another subversive attack is unacceptable. We will not give up on this important legislation, which is an educational tool for consumers and a marketing tool for U.S. farmers and ranchers.”

NFU Continues Fight for COOL Amid Threats

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