Farm Food Voices DC 2011 Updates

Farm Food Voices DC 2011 Updates

 

Scheduled meetings with legislators so far:

 

NEW JERSEY

9:00 a.m., Office of Senator Robert Menendez

Hart Senate Office Building, Room 528

 

MARYLAND
9:30 a.m., Office of Senator Ben Cardin
Hart Senate Office Building Rm 509 

1:00 p.m., Office of Senator Barbara Mikulski

Hart Senate Office Building, Room 503

 

MASSACHUSETTS
11:00 a.m., Office of Senator Scott Brown
Russell Senate Office Building, Room 317

NORTH CAROLINA
11:30 a.m., Office of Senator Richard Burr

Russell Senate Office Building, Room 217

2:45 p.m., Office of Congresswoman  Renee Ellmers

Longworth House Office Building, Room 1533 

 

PENNSYLVANIA

11:30 a.m., Office of Congressman Bill Shuster

Cannon House Office Building, Room 204

2:30 p.m., Office of Senator Robert Casey

Russell Senate Office Building, Room 393

 

SOUTH CAROLINA

3:00 p.m., Office of Senator Jim DeMint

Russell Senate Office Building, Room 167

 

VIRGINIA

11:30 a.m., Office of Senator Jim Webb (with Warner staff aides also)

Russell Senate Office Building, Room 248

NOTE: Combined meeting with Senators Webb and Warner's staff aides.

2:30 p.m., Office of Congressman Morgan Griffith

Longworth House Office Building Room 1108

3:00 p.m., Office of Congressman Bobby Scott

Longworth House Office Building, Room 1201

5:30 p.m., Congressman Frank Wolf

Cannon House Office Building, Room 241

NOTE: This meeting is with Congressman Wolf.

 

If you are from one of these states, please join the scheduled meetings.  If you have scheduled other meetings, PLEASE EMAIL US IMMEDIATELY.  If you are from other states, please plan to visit your legislators and speak with an aide.

 

Talking Points

 

Previous Talking Points focused on pending legislation like the recently passed "Food Safety Modernization Act," but there is no current legislation we are active on. This year our message is simple: 

• Food choice is our right. It is not a "safety issue," it is a right.  Like breathing.

Armed raids by enforcement agents since 2004 against farms and buying clubs have shown the FDA's intent to target farm produced foods, raw milk and cheese in particular, as a "health risk," according to an FDA memo, and eliminate their production and distribution.

• This list of raids gives a brief overview of most of the raids since 2004 (we update it as needed).

When you speak with aides or legislators, speak from your heart.  Make it personal. Explain why it is important to you to be there and meet with them.  That it is your right to buy, or produce, the food you choose, not what they choose for you.   

THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY:  We would like to begin to introduce legislators to the ongoing national emergency that most people are unaware of, but that is the legal basis of regulations on direct trade between farmer and consumer.  Briefly, in 1933, in response to the dire economics of the time, Congress declared a state of emergency and gave the President, not themselves, the authority to end it.  The emergency suspended the Constitution and empowered the Executive branch to regulate the operation of private enterprise, which the federal government cannot legally do under the Constitution. That emergency has never been repealed. It is time for Congress to take back its authority and repeal the emergency. 

This is new information for most people, so if you want to bring this up in your meetings, you can use this brief and tailor it for your state/district.

PLEASE DONATE:  Please donate whatever you can today through PayPal (it takes a few seconds for PayPal to load once you click) or mail a check or money order to:

NICFA

P.O. Box 239

Bowie, MD  20719

 

We are most grateful for any help you can give.  

 

If you are not familiar with Farm Food Voices, visit our FFVDC event site.

 

To volunteer to help with the event please contact

 

Liz Reitzig, NICFA Secretary 

liz.reitzig@verizon.net

301.807.5063

 

Thank you again and see you March 16!

 

Yours for real food freedom,

 

Deborah Stockton, Executive Director

National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (NICFA)

nicfa@earthlink.net

http://www.nicfa.org 

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