Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi wrote:“Debate has now almost closed. The chair invites the gentlewoman from Maine to give the closing address”
United States House of Representatives
Congresswoman Diane Paulson [R-ME-2]Paulson brought a wet rag to wipe up the remaining meat juice on the podium from her fellow Maine representative’s idiotic stunt.
“Thank you Mr. Speaker. I’d like a few minutes to address the concerns of my colleagues regarding food safety.”
“First of all, I don’t appreciate the stunts pulled by my colleague from Maine. Besides all the logical inconsistency of his statements, he also yet again left a mess for someone else to clean up.”
She finished wiping the podium.
“Not unlike the Congress’s enactment of the current regulatory scheme, which has created an oligarchic, bureaucratic mess that we must now clean up.”
“Secondly, I’d like to recognize Representative Simone’s points regarding the potential management of E Coli outbreaks under the proposed regulatory scheme. Currently, only 4 companies control 80% of the US beef market. That leads to a consolidated beef supply chain, causing outbreaks to be exacerbated in effect.”
“If there is a food safety failure in a gigantic Tyson plant, it affects thousands of people. MARKET’s proposed changes give Americans more opportunity to seek meat products from outside of the pseduo-monopoly of the big-4 meatpackers. Should an outbreak happen in one of those big-4 facilities, Americans would be left with no options for safe, local meat unless we enact these reforms."
“This bill gives Americans the opportunity to seek fully-inspected, safe, locally-sourced meat from farmers and butchers that they know and trust. America is a nation where we honor people’s freedom to choose, and I think it is very valuable for Americans to have to choice to seek food sourced locally.”
“The statistics don’t lie. State-run meat inspection programs are as safe or safer than USDA programs. Custom-slaughter plants nationwide have not had a food safety incident in years. It’s not necessary to have a USDA employee on site at all times every time meat is prepared in our country. Its absurd that we do that.”
“If you believe in liberty, you believe that Americans should have the liberty to choose where their food comes from. If you believe in community, you believe that food should come from the community that consumes it, and people should be able to know their farmer and butcher. And if you believe in family, you’ll open meat processing markets so more of the profits are passed on to local butchers and family farmers rather than big multinational corporations.”
“Some of my less rural Representatives might not be aware of this, but there’s a war going on in agricultural politics. That between small farmers and producers, and the big corporations who fund agricultural lobbying groups. When the little guy and big guys’ interests align, nobody even thinks about it. But when their interests diverge, like here in the MARKET Act, the conflict is open for the world to see.”
“By how you vote on MARKET, you’re declaring your side in this greater battle.”
“Democrats, do you really believe that big, predatory corporations are dangerous to society? Then take this opportunity to curb their power by voting yes on the MARKET Act.”
“Republicans, do you really stand with family farms and rural America? If so, take this opportunity to choose their side and vote yes on the MARKET Act.”
“Congress, do you really stand for bipartisan solutions to our problems that help regular Americans afford to eat, don’t pose any increased health risk or change in meat standards at all, and will create a healthier system of free enterprise? If so, vote yes on the MARKET Act.”