Political Quotes

“I would like to thank my colleague from Alabama, a member of the Rules Committee, as well as joining Mr. McGovern with whom we share a Rules Committee assignment. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule that we are considering as well as the underlying legislation, both bills, but I would like to specifically speak to H.R. 1599, which is, I believe, accurately labeled the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. I think, also, I would like to talk to the positive impacts that it will have on our Nation's food supply. Many of you may know that, prior to coming to Congress, I was the director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Shortly after my time at the WSDA, several groups in my home State of Washington proposed a ballot initiative, I-522, which would have required mandatory labeling of biotech food products or of those using ingredients that had biotech ingredients, also referred to as GMOs. Now, I opposed I-522 for a couple of reasons but mainly because of the impact that we could see it would have on our farmers and on our ranchers and on our grocers but, more importantly, on our consumers, the families who are making food decisions in the grocery stores, who, in the end, would pay higher food prices as a result of this mandatory labeling law that was being considered.…”