WASHINGTON – The Senate failed to advance a bill Wednesday that would have outlawed states from passing laws that require food packages to disclose the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
A procedural vote to close debate on the controversial legislation, which provided no federal alternative for mandatory on-package GMO designation, fell short of the 60 votes needed to move the bill to an approval vote.
Consumer groups claimed victory for the right of people to know what is in their food. The defeat was a blow to the food industry, including Minnesota-based General Mills, Land O'Lakes and Hormel, which oppose mandatory on-package GMO labels and want to avoid a new Vermont law that takes effect in July that requires them.
Minnesota Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar both voted against cloture.
In a statement to the Star Tribune, Franken acknowledged the need to avoid problems caused by different state labeling laws. But he said the GMO labeling bill offered by Sen. Pat Roberts, R.-Kan., did not include "a single, meaningful standard at the federal level."
Klobuchar voted to approve a similar Roberts' sponsored labeling bill in the Senate Agriculture Committee March 1. At that time, Klobuchar said her vote was intended to move the bill to the Senate floor so it could be modified with pro-consumer amendments. But her decision to vote for a bill that killed state labeling laws without providing a mandatory national on-package GMO labeling alternative spurred criticism by some of her constituents.
"I voted in committee to advance the bill while stating at the time that it needed more consumer provisions," Klobuchar said in a statement to the Star Tribune Wednesday. "My vote today was a procedural one which simply meant that I believe that changes still need to be made to the bill. I remain hopeful that we can reach a compromise on a bill that avoids subjecting our entire food supply to a patchwork of state laws while creating a national uniform standard that works for consumers."
Klobuchar did not address a letter sent to her Tuesday by 24 Minnesota state legislators urging her to vote against the Roberts bill.