Update on the Farm Bill

On Friday, Senators failed to pass a motion to end debate and bring the Farm Bill to a vote.  Congress has now recessed for two weeks for Thanksgiving vacation, and the future of the Farm Bill is very unclear.  Hundreds of pages of amendments have been filed, and there is no NAIS-related amendment, as best we can tell.  But some Senators filed amendments without text, essentially "placeholders" to allow them to file the actual amendment later.
 
So it's still possible that an amendment could be inserted when the Senate comes back, whether it is to strip Section 10305 as we have requested, or something that would be worse than the current Section 10305.  And regardless of what happens when the Farm Bill is finally voted on, there will still be a conference committee on the bill.  So stay tuned for future alerts!

Reminder for Texans

The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) will hear FARFA's petition to change the rule for tagging dairy cattle at its meeting tomorrow.
 
WHERE: TAHC main office, 2105 Kramer Lane, Austin, TX 78758
 
WHEN: Tuesday, November 20th, starting at 8:30 am.  The petition is the 10th item on the agenda, so it will probably be mid-morning before they get to it. You can get more information on the meeting at the TAHC's website, http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/agency/meetings.shtml
 
WHAT: Come to the meeting and tell the agency what you think!  The people who will have the most impact on the Commissioners are dairy cow owners or other people directly impacted by the regulation, such as sales barn owners.  The agency continues to state that this rule is not about NAIS, so they will probably ignore comments from people who are not connected in some way with dairy cattle.

Please Support Our Work

We depend on your support to keep fighting to protect independent agriculture.  If you are not yet a member of FARFA, please consider joining us! Membership starts as low as $10. Your membership dues and donations fund FARFA's work. Just as importantly, more members means more impact on the legislators.
 
Please help us to continue this important work by joining today, or giving an additional donation if you are already a member. Visit our membership page: http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/join-farfa

We wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.  Please stay tuned for updates, and be prepared to take action as the Senate fight continues!  As always, if you have any questions, contact us at info@farmandranchfreedom.org or call 866-687-6452.
 
Working together, we can make our voices heard.
 

Judith McGeary
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
www.farmandranchfreedom.org
866-687-6452