We alerted you on Wednesday, May 23rd, that Sen. Richard Durbin [D-IL] was going to propose an amendment (S.AMDT 2127) to the pending FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187) that was a partial resurrection of his 2011 bill, The Dietary Supplement Labeling Act.
Thanks to the efforts of CFH and its supporters, as well as allies in the health freedom movement, that bill was soundly defeated last year.
We are happy to announce that you did it again! In a vote the day after we alerted you to this threat, the U.S. Senate responded to our collective voice and voted 77 to 20 to table the amendment, removing it from consideration in the overall bill. (The bill moves to a debate in the House of Representatives next week).
Click here to see how the votes broke down.
Tell Your Senators What You Think Of Their Votes! (based on your Zip Code, a thank you or a rebuke letter will be offered to you for submission to your Senators)
While it is always important to take action on issues that are important to us, our families and our health freedoms, it is also extremely important to thank our legislators for doing the right thing (when they listen to their constituents) and to reproach them (respectfully) when they do not—as this is the essence of participatory democracy.
Stay tuned for further calls to action if this amendment is re-inserted on the House side and for other issues (where we we will ask for your support or opposition, as the case may be).
Special thanks to Senator Orrin Hatch [R-UT] who noted in comments on the Senate floor prior to Thursday’s vote that Durbin’s amendment was “based on the misguided presumption that the current regulatory framework for dietary supplements is flawed and that the FDA lacks authority to regulate these products.” Hatch went on to say that the amendment “serves to punish all responsible companies with its overreaching mandates.”
Here are all the No voters (bad):
Baucus (D-MT), Nay
Bingaman (D-NM), Nay
Boxer (D-CA), Nay
Cardin (D-MD), Nay
Conrad (D-ND), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Franken (D-MN), Nay
Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay
Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Reed (D-RI), Nay
Reid (D-NV), Nay
Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Nay
Webb (D-VA), Nay