The livestock, poultry and meat industries were successful in the Senate version of the farm bill. Two amendments that were of major concern were not considered. They were Senator Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) amendment to ban packers from owning, controlling or feeding livestock 14 days prior to slaughter and Senator Diane Feinstein’s amendment to regulate egg housing. This is the first time since 2002 that the Senate farm bill has not included a packer ban provision. Other amendments that were a concern but were defeated included: 1) Senator Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) amendment to prohibit mandatory or compulsory check off programs: 2) Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) amendment to permit states to require that any food, beverage or other edible product offered for sale have a label indicating if the product contained a genetically engineered ingredient; and 3) Senator Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) amendment that would have reduced funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) by 20%.
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