The U.S. House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry will hold a hearing on "animal identification programs" on Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The agenda has not been released, so nothing is certain at this time. Staffers have informed us that the Subcommittee will hear testimony from organizations about NAIS implementation generally, and that this is not a hearing to pass any bills. This is the first time in several years that any Congressional Committee will hear testimony about NAIS! We are working with other groups to try to ensure that the voices of people who are against NAIS will also be heard at the hearing.

Below is information on how you can take action, including a list of the Subcommittee members. After that is an update on NAIS in the Appropriations bill, so please read all the way through!

TAKE ACTION:

If one of the Subcommittee members is from your state, call that member. Or you can contact your own Representative and ask him or her to approach the Subcommittee member to urge them to oppose NAIS. If you're not sure who represents you, click here.

When you call, ask to speak to the staffer who handles agricultural issues, and talk with them about your concerns about NAIS. Emphasize that you want them to ask hard questions of both the industry and USDA representatives, and to make sure that people representing those who oppose NAIS are also heard at the hearing.

Once the agenda for the hearing is released, we will send out another alert with more specific action points. And, after the hearing, it will be very important to follow up with the Subcommittee members to make sure they hear all of the facts that are likely to not be raised at the hearing! So stay tuned!

SUBCOMMITTE MEMBERS:

Below are the Subcommittee members, their party and state, and phone numbers. You can also send an email by using this format: firstname.lastname@...

We strongly recommend that you make at least your initial contact with the Ag staffer with a telephone conversation.

APPROPRIATIONS NEWS

The 2009 omnibus Appropriations bill, HR 1105, passed the House on Thursday. 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 record about the intended uses of the appropriations for USDA, including timelines and performance goals for NAIS. This statement does not mandate NAIS, but it implies approval of the USDA's Business Plan, which includes using existing disease control programs to implement NAIS and achieve those performance goals.

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 here.

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 called and wrote their Congressmen last summer and fall to oppose that provision!

To read the Omnibus Appropriations bill, go to 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).