We have tentative good news about the Farm Bill. When the House Agriculture Committee began its meeting on Tuesday, the Chairman's Markup of the bill included section 11101, which would allow USDA to use mandatory animal ID to implement COOL. Representative Goodlatte offered an amendment that would have effectively gutted COOL, creating a major fight focused on that issue. Thursday night, the Committee agreed on an outline of the compromise COOL amendment. The specific language is still being drafted by the legislative staffers, and that language will be voted on by the Committee in the coming week.

The bullet points for the compromise COOL amendment state that the current prohibition on using mandatory animal ID would be retained. In other words, USDA wouldn't be able to use mandatory animal ID to implement COOL!

This is VERY good news. But until we see the actual language, we don't want to take the pressure off the legislators! Nothing is final until it is written down and voted on! If you haven't called your Representative, please go ahead and do so. To find who your Representative is, go to www.house.gov/writerep. And, as we've said before, call any member of the House Agriculture Committee is from your state. The members are listed below. The House version of the Farm Bill is NOT final yet, and we must keep pushing until it is!

MESSAGE: I am against the National Animal Identification System. I do not want any provision for NAIS or mandatory animal identification in the Farm Bill.

Remember that the Senate Agriculture Committee will be doing its own version of the Farm Bill very soon, so the fight is definitely not over. But as we keep fighting, we can be encouraged by the fact that the legislators are obviously hearing the message that the people are against NAIS!

For more information, go to www.libertyark.net or contact noah@libertyark.net CONTACT the House Agriculture Committee: Members are listed in order of their states (alphabetically). Please contact any members who come from your state. If you want to use e-mail, then go to the Congressperson's website, which you can find at www.house.gov/

Terry Everett (AL), (p) 202-225-2901, (f) 202-225-8913
Michael Rogers (AL), (p) 202-225-3261, (f) 202-226-8485
Jo Bonner (AL), (p) 202-225-4931, (f) 202-225-0562
Joe Baca (CA), (p) 202-225-6161, (f) 202-225-8671
Dennis Cardoza (CA), (p) 202-225-6131, (f) 202-225-0819
Jim Costa (CA), (p) 202-225-3341, (f) 202-225-9308
Kevin McCarthy (CA), (p) 202-225-2915, (f) 202-225-2908
John T. Salazar (CO), (p) 202-225-4761, (f) 202-226-9669
Marilyn Musgrove (CO), (p) 202-225-4676, (f) 202-225-5870
Timothy Mahoney (FL), (p) 202-225-5792, (f) 202-225-3132
David Scott (GA), (p) 202-225-2939, (f) 202-225-4628
Jim Marshall (GA), (p) 202-225-6531, (f) 202-225-3013
John Barrow (GA), (p) 866-890-6236, (f) 202-225-3377
Leonard L. Boswell (IA), (p) 202-225-3806, (f) 202-225-5608
Steve King (IA), (p) 202-225-4426, (f) 202-225-3193
Timothy Johnson (IL), (p) 202-225-2371, (f) 202-226-0791
Brad Ellsworth (IN), (p) 866-567-0227, (f) 202-225-3284
Joe Donnelly (IN), (p) 202-225-3915, (f) 202-225-6798
Nancy Boyda (KS), (p) 202-225-6601, (f) 202-225-7986
Jerry Moran (KS), (p) 202-225-2715, (f) 202-225-5124
Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (LA), (p) 202-225-2031, (f) 202-225-5724
Tim Walberg (MI), (p) 202-225-6276, (f) 202-225-6281
Collin Peterson (MN), (p) 202-225-2165, (f) 202-225-1593
Timothy J. Walz (MN), (p) 202-225-2472, (f) 202-225-3433
Sam Graves (MO), (p) 202-225-7041, (f) 202-225-8221
Earl Pomeroy (ND), (p) 202-225-2611, (f) 202-226-0893
Mike McIntyre (NC), (p) 202-225-2731, (f) 202-225-5773
Bob Etheridge (NC), (p) 202-225-4531, (f) 202-225-5662
Robin Hayes (NC), (p) 202-225-3715, (f) 202-225-4036
Virginia Foxx (NC), (p) 202-225-2071, (f) 202-225-2995
Jeff Fortenberry (NE), (p) 202-225-4806, (f) 202-225-5686
Adrian Smith (NE), (p) 202-225-6435, (f) 202-225-0207
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), (p) 202-225-5614, (f) 202-225-1168
John R. "Randy" Kuhl, Jr. (NY), (p) 202-225-3161, (f) 202-226-6599
Zachary T. Space (OH), (p) 202-225-6265, (f) 330-364-4330
Jean Schmidt (OH), (p) 202-225-3164, (f) 202-225-1992
Frank D. Lucas (OK), (p) 202-225-5565, (f) 202-225-8698
Tim Holden (PA), (p) 202-225-5546, (f) 202-226-0996
Stephanie Herseth Sandline (SD), (p) 202-225-2801, (f) 202-225-5823
Lincoln Davis, (TN), (p) 202-225-6831, (f) 202-226-5172
Henry Cuellar (TX), (p) 202-225-1640, (f) 202-225-1641
Mike Conaway (TX), (p) 202-225-3605, (f) 202-225-1783
Randy Neugebauer (TX), (p) 202-225-4005, (f) 202-225-9615

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