The Food Safety Enhancement Act is the largest reform to food safety since 1938, and you can have your say in its mark up, right now! Jill Richardson did a great job gathering info on who stands where on this bill. Please have a look, and if you have time to call five reps now (starting with those geographically closest) go for it! The mark-up starts at 10am ET.

Here are the changes to the bill we would like to ask for:

1. Add a provision to the Food Safety Enhancement Act that requires mandatory testing for pathogens and reporting of results.
2. Please take care to ensure that the bill does not harm or over-burden small farms and businesses.
3. Please add Rep. Markey’s Ban Poisonous Additives Act as an amendment to the bill (which would ban BPA in containers).
4. Please vote for the bill!

More info on the representatives involved in the mark-up:

Probable Votes FOR The Bill – target these guys to get the improvements we want added to the bill TODAY

1. John Dingell, D-MI (sponsor) (202) 225-4071
2. Frank Pallone, D-NJ (co-sponsor) (202) 225-4671
3. Diana DeGette, D-CO (co-sponsor) (202) 225-4431
4. Betty Sutton, D-OH (co-sponsor) (202) 225-3401
5. Henry A. Waxman, D-CA (co-sponsor) (202) 225-3976
6. Lois Capps, D-CA
7. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL
8. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI
9. Anna Eshoo, D-CA
10. Jane Harman, D-CA
11. Christopher S. Murphy, D-CT
12. Kathy Castor, D-FL
13. Bruce L. Braley, D-IA

Probable Votes AGAINST the bill – Don’t bother with these guys

1. Nathan Deal, R-GA
2. Ed Whitfield, R-KY
3. John Shimkus, R-IL
4. Steve Buyer, R-IN
5. Tim Murphy, R-PA
6. Michael C. Burgess, R-TX
7. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN
8. Mike Rogers, R-MI
9. Gene Green, D-TX (worried it will hurt his district’s port)

Unknowns (we need 7 of these people to vote for the bill to pass it out of sub-committee)

1. Bart Gordon, D-TN
2. Eliot L. Engel, D-NY
3. Mike Ross, D-AR
4. Anthony D. Weiner, D-NY
5. Jim Matheson, D-UT
6. Charles A. Gonzalez, D-TX
7. John Barrow, D-GA
8. John P. Sarbanes, D-MD
9. Zachary T. Space, D-OH
10. Ralph M. Hall, R-TX
11. John B. Shadegg, R-AZ
12. Roy Blunt, R-MO – wife is Kraft lobbyist
13. Joseph R. Pitts, R-PA
14. Sue Wilkins Myrick, R-NC
15. Phil Gingrey, R-GA
16. Joe Barton, R-TX

The representatives listed above are on the subcommittee. The following representatives are on the House Energy & Commerce Committee but not on the Subcommittee on Health.

Democrats
Edward J. Markey, MA
Rick Boucher, VA
Bobby L. Rush, IL
Bart Stupak, MI
Mike Doyle, PA
Jay Inslee, WA
Mike Ross, AR
G.K. Butterfield, NC
Charlie Melancon, LA
Baron P. Hill, IN
Doris O. Matsui, CA
Jerry McNerney, CA
Peter Welch, VT

Republicans
Fred Upton, MI
Cliff Stearns, FL
George Radanovich, CA
Mary Bono Mack, CA
Greg Walden, OR
Lee Terry, NE
John Sullivan, OK
Steve Scalise, LA

We need a total of 28 votes on the committee to get this thing passed out of committee.

*Hat tip to Jill Richardson, who has a new book coming out soon that you should buy!