At this very moment, a Continuing Resolution (CR) for the big Appropriations funding bill (H.R. 933) is being debated in the Senate. It’s supposed to be about funding the government, but the Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (who has always stood by our side in the past), has included a dangerous GMO rider that has no place in a funding bill.
Fortunately, Senator Tester, joined by Senators Boxer, Gillibrand, and Leahy, have introduced amendment #74 to strike the dangerous rider from the CR. This is our one chance to ensure this heinous language does not become law. Tell your member of Congress to support the Tester amendment and dump the dangerous biotech rider.
The good news is that this amendment is our best opportunity to halt the GMO rider before the bill goes to conference committee, which will reconcile the House bill (which was passed without the GMO rider language) with this Senate bill. The bad news is that during the previous Congress, the House passed a bill with this exact same GMO language, so if we don’t stop the rider now, the House is unlikely to oppose it.
This is the same rider we’ve told you about before—the so-called Farmer Assurance Provision (Section 735)–that will strip federal courts of the authority to halt the sale and planting of illegal, potentially hazardous genetically engineered crops while USDA is performing an environmental impact statement . If this provision becomes law, it will be a huge blow to the justice system, completely overriding judicial safeguards that protect both farmers and the public, and rendering judges’ rulings irrelevant.
This Monsanto-driven rider is simply a biotech industry ploy to continue to plant GE crops even when a court of law has found they were approved illegally.
This is our moment—and perhaps our only chance–to be heard and have the GMO language pulled. Government funding expires on March 27, and the CR is a “must-pass” before that deadline, so we need a big push from you and other concerned citizens RIGHT NOW. Forward this email to everyone you know and urge them take immediate action by sending a quick message through our Action Alert system.
Then—and this is just as important—pick up the phone and call your senators today! We must tie up their phone lines to tell them they won’t be re-elected if they do not act to oppose this language! Follow this link to find your senators’ phone numbers—just choose your state from the drop-down menu.
Please take action right away. Please don’t put it off! We can’t begin to express how important and urgent this is.
1. Send your Action Alert message
2. Phone both your senators
3. Forward this email to as many like-minded people as you can think of, post the Action Alert it to Facebook, and Tweet about it (use the hashtag #GMOrider).
