Jon Tester: “I want to talk a little bit today about food, transparency, and consumers' rights to know what is in their food. As many…”

“I want to talk a little bit today about food, transparency, and consumers' rights to know what is in their food. As many folks in this body know, in my real life I am a farmer. I get to see exactly where my food comes from. Last month, I spent some time butchering and processing beef, knowing exactly where that came from. I like that. But not all Americans have the ability to know where their food comes from. A few months ago, in July, the House passed a bill called the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. It couldn't be anything more different from that, by the way. It basically denies Americans the right to know what is in their food by prohibiting the Federal Government, States, and municipalities from imposing any labeling standards that deal with genetically modified food. I come from a State where transparency is very important. It makes our government work better. For the Federal Government in this case to undermine States and municipalities and not allow the consumer to know what is in their food--it is exactly the wrong step to take. So why am I bringing this subject up today? I am bringing it up today because, quite frankly, there is some talk about air dropping an amendment that would allow the DARK Act to go into effect. It is not a bill we have debated on the floor to my knowledge. I don't know that it has even been heard in committee. But the bottom line is that this is bad policy.…”