Check Sky for Pigs, Senate Passes Food Safety Bill

After a long and frustrating journey, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act cleared the Senate today in a bipartisan 73-25 vote.

The Senate debated the bill last night and this morning, considering (and rejecting) four proposed amendments to the legislation, including one aimed at banning Congressional earmarks through FY 2013. (For more on the debate and the amendments, see this article in the latest issue of OMB Watch’s biweekly newsletter, The Watcher.)

The bill would expand the regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by giving it the power to order recalls of contaminated foods and requiring it to increase the number of inspections it conducts at high-risk food facilities.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a long-time champion of food safety reform, applauded the Senate vote. “FDA will have new tools to help ensure that America’s food supply is safer, causing fewer illnesses and deaths,” CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson said in a statement. “Preventing contamination in the first place is paramount to reducing the health care and economic costs that are caused when unsafe food makes people sick.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), abetted by head-scratching Senate procedures and the sluggishness of Majority Leader Harry Reid, was partly responsible for pushing the bill this far back into the Senate session. Coburn, joined by 24 of his Republican colleagues, voted against final passage of the bill. All 56 Democrats, both independents, and 15 Republicans voted in favor. Kudos to Reid for prioritizing the bill during the lame duck session, and thanks to all 73 senators who voted to make the food we eat safer. Snarls and hisses to the other 27.

The Senate has had the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act on the calendar since late last year when the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee unanimously approved it. Since then, the bill has fallen down the list of Senate priorities on several occasions. The House passed its version of food safety reform legislation in July 2009.

According to The New York Times: “Despite unusual bipartisan support on Capitol Hill and a strong push from the Obama administration, the bill could still die because there might not be enough time for the usual haggling between the Senate and House of Representatives, which passed its own version last year. Top House Democrats said that they would consider simply passing the Senate version to speed approval.”

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