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The ‘King amendment’ is back
Iowa Congressman Steve King
Among the 17 amendments to the House Ag Committee’s farm bill is the so-called “King amendment”, preventing states from imposing their own animal welfare standards on farm goods brought in from other states.
The amendment, introduced by Iowa Representative Steve King, targets California, which says all eggs sold in the state must meet its larger cage-size standards for egg-laying hens.
“We can’t let every state decide what’s going on in all the other states or refuse to accept their products,” King said. “We have inspectors from California that are now traveling around Iowa with their tape measures, measuring the cage sizes of our laying hens in Iowa.”
King said California’s law is a violation of the commerce clause of the U.S. constitution. But California Congressman Jeff Denham argued King’s amendment goes far beyond the issues of egg production and interstate commerce.
“Rather it indiscriminately targets any and all state laws that can deemed a burden to out-of-state entities. Even laws democratically passed by popular vote—and in California, Prop 2 was passed by a popular vote of the people,” Denham said.
The King amendment is similar to one adopted by the House Ag Committee in 2013 but left out of the final farm bill.
AUDIO: Excerpt from House Ag Committee discussion on the ‘King amendment’
This isn’t just about eggs, and each state should have the will of the people do regulate what commerce and laws they approve. This will have direct conflict from the citizens of this country, more wide spread divide not between the people but between the people and government! Leave it alone, how on God green Earth does improving the well being of other living creatures be in conflict with Congress all the freakin time?