USDA Releases Cost-Benefit Analysis

After holding back the cost-benefit analysis for almost a year, USDA has finally released its report. The full analysis is 440 pages, posted on the Liberty Ark Coalition’s website here.

USDA has also released a 30-page overview, which is posted here.

Given the USDA’s track record on NAIS, we expect that there are major holes and logical fallacies throughout the report. Stay tuned for our analysis!

Congressional Hearing Next Week

Two Congressional subcommittees will hold a joint hearing next week to review the National Animal Identification System. They have not yet released the list of who has been invited to testify.

WHEN: Tues., May 5th at 2 pm Eastern
WHERE: 1300 Longworth House Office Building
WHAT: Joint Public Hearing by the Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry and the Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology
RE: To review the National Animal Identification System

You can watch or listen online during the hearing here.

TAKE ACTION

At the end of the alert is a list of the members of both Subcommittees and their phone numbers. If any of the Subcommittee members are from your state, call those members. If your state does not have any representation on the Subcommittee, contact your own Representative and ask him or her to approach the Subcommittee to urge them to oppose NAIS. You can reach any member of Congress by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. To find out who represents you, click here.

When you call, ask to speak to the staffer who handles agricultural issues, and talk with them about your concerns about NAIS. Emphasize that you want them to ask hard questions of both the industry and USDA representatives, and not to accept unsupported (and illogical) sound bites about how NAIS will supposedly protect animal or human health.

USDA Initiates Plans for Listening Sessions

On April 15, Secretary Vilsack held a “roundtable” on NAIS in DC. Among the 29 invited speakers were anti-NAIS activists Judith McGeary, Executive Director of FARFA, and Walter Jeffries, founder of the website NONAIS. Other invited groups that spoke against NAIS included R-CALF, NICFA, and WORC. Participants gave short presentations and could submit written comments. FARFA’s written comments are posted here, and the transcript of the entire roundtable is posted here.

At the roundtable, Secretary Vilsack announced that “listening sessions” would be held around the country to hear from concerned parties about NAIS. Vilsack’s comments made it clear that he considers the export market a priority, which has been one of the driving forces behind NAIS. He also clearly plans to push forward with some sort of animal ID program. To quote him: “I really am not interested in getting a phone call one day from Capitol Hill, telling me that the costs and funding for the program has been cut off, because people are not getting this to work and now we're faced with basically no system.”

It’s going to take a lot of people speaking up loud and clear to keep a mandatory program from being imposed on every livestock owner in America! The times and places of the hearings will be announced in the Federal Register, and we will keep you posted.