The Senate unanimously approved child nutrition reauthorization yesterday, a big step forward for a bill fighting for time amidst a busy legislative agenda.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act reauthorizes federal child nutrition programs, sets nutritional standards for all food sold in schools, and increases the reimbursement rate for the first time in over three decades, …
Standing alongside key lawmakers, child nutrition advocates, and elementary students dressed as grapes, apples, carrots, and bananas, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) yesterday urged the Senate to pass the pending child nutrition reauthorization bill.
With time running out before August recess, Sen. Lincoln has turned up the heat on Senate leaders to get …
Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) defeated labor-backed Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter in a heated Democratic primary runoff Tuesday, bucking the notion that Lincoln might be the third Senate incumbent casualty of strong anti-Washington sentiment this year.
Lincoln, a conservative Democrat, pulled ahead of Halter, a progressive, Moveon.org-supported candidate, winning 52 …
In another act of the ongoing catfish regulatory drama, the advocacy group Food and Water Watch sent a letter yesterday to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius recommending they work together to get catfish inspections rolling as soon as possible.
The 2008 farm bill mandated that the U.S Department of …
Food Safety News reported that there is no timetable for moving the nomination of Elisabeth Hagen to the Senate floor. Hagen, currently the chief medical officer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the nominee to lead the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the USDA agency responsible for ensuring the safety of meat…
Though the Senate Agriculture Committee recently held a hearing to consider Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, the Obama Administration’s nominee for Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the timeline for Hagen’s expected confirmation by the full Senate remains unclear.
According to Ag Committee sources, there is currently no timeline to hold…
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) is again pressing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to begin regulating catfish, an issue of great importance to catfish farmers in Arkansas struggling to compete with a flux of imports from Southeast Asia.
Yesterday during a hearing to consider a number of nominees for USDA posts, including…
Today the Senate Agriculture Committee will take the first step in the confirmation process for Under Secretary for Food Safety, a post at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that has been vacant for 19 months. The Committee is holding a nomination hearing this morning to consider President Obama’s pick for the job, Dr. Elisabeth …
After a series of USA Today exposes in 2009 found staggering gaps in school food safety, many in food policy circles thought food safety would be addressed in the Child Nutrition Act (CNA) reauthorization process this year.
USA Today found the leading fast food companies had higher food safety standards than the Agriculture Marketing Service …
Russia is making bogus food safety claims to curtail or eliminate American poultry, pork and beef imports, the two top agricultural leaders in the U.S. Senate charge in a letter to President Obama.
Democrat Blanche Lincoln and Republican Saxby Chambliss, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, urged the President to “fully …
