A House of Representatives Appropriation Subcommittee on Agriculture has voted to ban funding of enforcement for the mandatory country-of-origin labeling law.
During markup of the fiscal year 2004 spending bill, Chairman Henry Bonilla (R-TX) offered an amendment barring the Agriculture Department (USDA) from implementing the COOL law for meat and meat products.
The subcommittee also moved to:
Provide full funding for food safety inspection programs administered by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, negating any proposals for industry funding of user fees.
Maintain full funding for USDA’s Agricultural Research Service at the fiscal year 2003 level of $1.99 million. The subcommittee boosted funding for research conducted at the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service to $894,000, an increase of $94,000 over the previous fiscal year.
Provide full funding of $125 million requested for the Market Access Program.
The spending measures must still go to the full House Appropriations Committee before going to the House floor for approval.
