NFU Appalled with Senate’s Passage of Spending Bill
For Immediate Release: January 22, 2004
Contact: Liz Friedlander, 202-314-3191WASHINGTON (Jan. 22, 2004) – National Farmers Union expressed strong dismay in the Senate’s passage of the omnibus appropriations bill despite a two-year delay of mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) contained within the legislation.
“I am appalled that this attack on the country-of-origin food labeling law was not debated in public,” said NFU President Dave Frederickson. “At the insistence of the Bush administration, congressional leadership slipped this delay into the comprehensive spending bill behind closed doors and at the expense of consumers, American farmers and our trading relationships.”
However, Frederickson said this will not be the final push to implement mandatory country-of-origin labeling by the end of the year. Farmers Union will be working with COOL supporters in Congress to make sure country-of-origin labeling shows up again in other must-pass legislative vehicles in 2004, he said.
“We will not give up,” said Frederickson. “COOL remains an issue in the countryside; it remains a top priority issue with National Farmers Union; and we will make sure it continues to be an issue in Congress.
