Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., chair of the House Agriculture Subcommittee of Appropriations presented the FY 2010 Ag Appropriations Bill to the full committee last Thursday. The bill cleared the committee in less than 30 minutes. DeLauro followed up her remarks during subcommittee markup about the National Animal Identification system by eliminating all funding in the appropriations bill. She said that until USDA finishes their listening sessions on NAIS and comes up with a workable plan to put Animal ID in place she sees no reason for any more money going into the program.
"We've suggested to the farmers and ranchers that we've been talking to about this issue that there were some concerns about the efficiency and effectiveness of the existing system," Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said. "I think the action of the committee reinforces that notion."
Vilsack says it's not a closed matter that there is still a long way to go in the appropriations process and there are still several listening sessions remaining, from which Vilsack says he is getting lots of ideas.
"It would be my hope that we would be able to come up from the listening sessions a set of suggestions that might improve participation," Vilsack said.
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