Tell Congress: Reject the GOP Farm Bill!

Dear Representative,

As a constituent, I am writing to express my strong opposition to the Farm Bill passed out of the House Agriculture Committee last week. The bill would be disastrous for our health and the environment. The massive, wasteful subsidies in this Farm Bill will continue to enrich agribusiness and crop insurance companies while encouraging pesticide-intensive, polluting farming. I am particularly concerned about:

• Major cuts to working lands conservation programs;

• The King Amendment, which would preempt the rights of state and local governments to pass laws protecting their residents, potentially wiping out hundreds of carefully considered laws protecting our health, the environment, and animal welfare;

• Eliminating programs like the Organic Certification Cost-Share and the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program that help farmers and ranchers meet the surging demand for local and organic food and pasture-raised meat and dairy;

• Exempting pesticides from the Endangered Species Act, which would allow the EPA to approve toxic pesticides that could threaten the existence of numerous endangered species; and

• Allowing companies to spray pesticides into our waterways without even obtaining a Clean Water Act permit -- even when these waterways are sources of drinking water, places where we swim and fish, or are already impaired.

This bill cannot be salvaged. Please do all within your power to defeat this Farm Bill and go back to the drawing board to draft a Farm Bill that will protect our natural resources, reduce wasteful subsidies, and help farmers produce abundant, healthy, and sustainably produced food.

Thank you for considering my position.