Steve King Earns Most Votes for Monsanto Minion Award

A petition to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)...

Rep Steve King courtesy: thinkprogress.org

(WASHINGTON DC) - Last week, the OCA sent its members a list of seven U.S. Reps and Senators who have worked hard on behalf of Monsanto. We asked consumers to vote for their favorite "Monsanto Minion." Consumers put Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), also known as the Emperor of all Morons, at the top of the list. (Click here to see how all seven ranked).

This week, the OCA joined our ally, Occupy Monsanto, to deliver the awards. Posing as lobbyists, we hand-delivered the awards. Next, we staged a non-violent act of civil disobedience, in the form street theater, to protest the influence of Monsanto money of Congress. (Watch the video).

Why draw attention to Monsanto's lobbying money right now? Because even though the government is shut down, Capitol Hill is still packed with lobbyists for Congress's corporate paymasters. The situation is so bad that one Member of Congress proposed banning corporate lobbyists from House and Senate buildings during the government shutdown.

When corporations want a big bill to pass, they spend big bills to attach riders and amendments to those bills. And they negotiate back-room deals to make sure those riders and amendments survive. When legislators are under pressure to make a deal, the lobbyists circle like vultures looking for signs of weakness among the negotiators. Monsanto spends $6 million a year on lobbyists who know how to take advantage of moments like this. A legislative crisis like this is what gave us the Monsanto Protection Act in the first place.

Now that the Farm Bill could be included in the budget package, everything's on the table and anything could happen. The Monsanto Protection Act could rise from the dead. The King Amendment to take away states' rights to regulate food and farming could become law.

Each of Monsanto's minions in Congress has been working behind the scenes with the Biotech Bully's lobbyists to come up with ways to keep genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from being labeled or safety tested, and to block our attempts to regulate GMOs at the state and local level.

If they sneak their plans into a bill that ends the shut-down, raises the debt limit and passes a Farm Bill, what are we going to do? Ask President Obama to veto it? It will be too late.

The time to act is now. Call your Senators and Representative at (202) 224-3121 to tell them you want mandatory labels on GMOs and that you oppose the King Amendment, the Warren-Udall letter, and any other federal action that would take away states' rights to label GMOs!

Please join us in opposition to Rep. King's Farm Animal Cruelty Promotion Act by signing this petition. We'll deliver it to Rep. King's offices on Capitol Hill before the final vote on the 2013 Farm Bill.

As a constituent who appreciates the many state laws that protect the quality of my food by regulating how it is produced, I'm writing to urge you to drop your so-called "King Amendment" that takes aim at state laws protecting farm animals. It really should be called the "Farm Animal Cruelty Promotion Act."

Because it is so broadly drafted to take away states' rights to regulate food and farming, your amendment could preempt a wide range of state laws governing everything from child labor, to dangerous pesticides, to the labeling of farm-raised fish. It is a massive overreach, slashing sensible food regulations, while trampling the 10th amendment.

Please stop your vicious attacks on democracy and withdraw your Animal Cruelty Protection Act from the Farm Bill.

Signed,

Organic Consumers Association

Sign the Petition Here