PLEASE READ - Time is of the Essence!

It's great that Durbin (senate) and DeLauro (house) got some bills rolling to address the food safety problem.  But, as of today, May 22, those bills are stuck.  What that means politically is that bills can die by simply not doing anything.  The Senate bill that Durbin introduced (really an amendment to a bill that already had some chance of passing as law), has been referred to the House for action.  The bill that DeLauro introduced in the House, has been referred to the Senate for action.  And neither the Senate nor House are acting on the bills sent to them by the other.

Even though both bills passed unanimously where they were introduced, in the House and Senate, they are two separate, different pieces of legislation.  For a bill to become law, it has to pass BOTH the house and senate, then the President has to sign it, and then have the Appropriation Committee FUND the bill.  Currently, the bill by Durbin has passed the Senate, but not the House.  The bill by DeLauro has passed the House, but not the Senate.  Durbin (in the senate) and DeLauro (in the house) has sent their legislation to the other for action.  Neither House or Senate has taken up the bills by the other.  They are shown as simply being "referred" to the other.  And there they have sat for weeks without action, without being debated, without ANYTHING!!

Those bills are sitting there with no actions being taken.  They aren't on any calendar for action or debate.  They are being KILLED, make no mistake about that!  this is an often used political tactic to kill a bill by quietly letting it just 'go away' after the headlines have cooled down.  A senator or representative can be AGAINST a bill, but still vote "yah" then sagotage the bill later (they do this to appear sympathetic to voters when their real agenda is otherwise...such as in support of big business of another PAC). 

One reporter said that when everyone, left, right, middle, independent, etc., all agree on a bill, it has no teeth.  This bill has teeth, but the problem is that there may be an underlying intention to KILL the bills by doing nothing on them. 

THESE BILLS WILL DIE if you don't call your Senators and Representatives and tell them to GET THOSE BILLS ROLLING, and that you DEMAND funding for those bills.  What makes a bill toothless is to pass the bill, but not fund it by Appropriations. 

The simple fact here, folks, is that if you don't start calling and doing postcard blitz's and everything else you can think of to get those bills in action again, then they WILL DIE.  If the current legislative session ends without any further action being taken, then these bills will be dead forever. 

Don't let that happen.  If you let this happen, all of this will have been for nothing.  Try to get your mind around the political world.  This isn't accidental.  The lack of action on Durbin and DeLauro legislation is with the hope that the pet people won't notice.  So, NOTICE what is happening here!  We've been thrown a bone by the unanimous passage of the bills in the house or senate, but there's no real meat here unless one of these bills starts to move again.

If we want changes in legislation like food safety and COOL, we MUST start being a little more politically aware of how the game is played.  We aren't organized like the big PACs (political action committees), but we are number-strong! and that is our strength.  It is stronger than a paid lobbyist.  So please please please go into high Action-mode and start doing what you can to let your senators know that you expect these bills to keep moving. 

Do it today.

When you call or contact them, ask the very pointed question of why they are letting this legislation sit without action.  The bill numbers are listed below.  DEMAND an answer:  WHY is the House/Senate not acting on these bills?  Tell them that you expect this to be a PRIORITY!!!

I can't say this forcefully enough!  YOU must start calling, sending postcards, letters, petitions, whatever ASAP!!  We are running out of TIME!!!

Information compiled from senate.gov website, regarding the following bills:
Food safety legislation:    S.654, S.1274, S.1292    H.R.1148, H.R.2108