Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment to ensure tribal sovereignty is not inadvertently harmed by this legislation, the DARK Act.
I am joined by several colleagues in support of this amendment, including cosponsors Representatives POLIS, MCCOLLUM, GRIJALVA, and RUIZ.
Now, much of the debate this morning has focused on how and if this bill will preempt State and local laws, which would include ordinances in my district that have been adopted by Marin, Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties.
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I agree with my colleagues: we deserve to know what is in our food, and this bill prevents local and State governments from providing consumers with that information, the information they want.
But in today's debate, little has been said about the need to protect the principle of tribal self-governance. I recognize that some of my colleagues believe the manager's amendment addresses any concerns regarding preemption and tribal sovereignty. I disagree. That is why I am offering this amendment to address any potential ambiguity in the bill, and to ensure that tribes can continue to take action on GMOs, as many of them have sought to do. If the underlying bill is supposed to protect tribal sovereignty, I would hope that the bill supporters wouldn't mind making that protection explicit by passing this amendment.
In 2013, the National Congress of American Indians, which supports my amendment today, passed a resolution calling on Congress and the Federal Government to ``preserve, protect, and maintain the integrity of traditional native foods, seeds, and agricultural systems ..... support the labeling of seeds or products containing GE technology and ingredients ..... create GE and transgenic crop-free zones; and oppose the use and cultivation of GE seeds in the United States.'' But this bill would preempt the creation of a national standard for GMOs that NCAI has asked for.
Now, this is not just about crops, Mr. Chairman. The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, which includes several tribes in my district, are strongly opposed to the FDA approval of genetically engineered salmon due to the potential for harmful impacts on wild salmon that are so important to the tribes and to, frankly, the commercial economy in my district. Under this legislation, it is hard to see how FDA could ever require the labeling of genetically engineered salmon.
With the significant concerns over GE foods and the proactive steps that tribes are taking on their lands and resources, we ought to make clear that this bill will not affect tribes' authorities to prohibit or restrict the cultivation of GE plants on or near tribal lands.
The Congressional Research Service has taken a look at this bill's new preemption section, and they have said that the effects of the preemption language are ambiguous. In the case of impacts to tribes, we ought to leave no ambiguity.
I urge support of this amendment. No matter how we feel about the legislation as a whole, I would hope, at the very least, we could clarify that tribes should retain the authority to restrict GE plants on their own lands, if they so choose.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, I respectfully disagree that that language is clear, but I would note that that language says nothing about tribal sovereignty.
Mr. Chairman, colleagues, this is a bill that is deeply flawed. It should be opposed for all sorts of reasons. But here is an amendment that would at least make it a little better for those of us that represent Indian Country, for those of us that care about tribal sovereignty.
For those of us that want to protect the tribes who have taken action on their land, who have in some cases partnered with States for buffer zones near tribal land, we ought to at least take this additional step to make it clear that they can do that, that we are not running roughshod over their tribal sovereignty.
With that, I request an ``aye'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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