Country of Origin Labeling Challenged by U.S. House; Committee of Environment and Public Works to Rewrite “Waters of the U.S.”

The U.S. House has sent a bill that would repeal Country of Origin Labeling on to the Senate. The bill passed the House 300-131 Wednesday night. House Ag Committee Chairman Mike Conaway told House members “repeal is the only viable option before us to avoid this retaliation.” Canada and Mexico have vowed to act upon retaliatory measures. Canadian Ag Minister Gerry Ritz issued a statement following the passage. Ritz said "While this marks a positive step, the only way for the United States to avoid billions in retaliation by late summer is to ensure legislation repealing COOL passes the Senate and is signed by the President."

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public works advanced legislation Wednesday to force the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to rewrite their “Waters of the U.S.” rule. During the markup, Wyoming Senator John Barrasso stated that the final rule, published on May 27th, is actually worse than the proposed rule. Committee Chairman James Inhofe expressed his concerns over the rule in a letter sent to the EPA. In the letter, he said according to the Army Corps, 60 percent of the substantive comments received on the proposed rule opposed the rule.