Republican Government at Work

From the AP:
Pushed by food companies seeking uniform labels across state lines, the bill would prevent states from adding food warnings that go beyond federal law. States could petition the Food and Drug Administration to add extra warnings, under the bill.

Countrywide, as many as 200 state laws or regulations could be affected, according to the Congressional Budget Office. They include warnings about lead and alcohol in candy, arsenic in bottled water and many others.

The government would spend at least $100 million US to answer petitions for tougher state rules, according to CBO.

State’s Rights, my ass.  These guys only supported state’s rights when the Dems controlled the Federal government; but they’re clearly much happier with using the Feds to control all of the states.  One-stop shopping, so to speak.

And the big joke is that the bill’s supporters insist that they just want uniform standards, saying that what’s good for one state is good for another.  But, duh…is something preventing a food company from labeling their products with every state’s warnings?  Does Wyoming law prohibit California food warnings?  No.  Because that’s what they already do.  So that’s obviously not the problem.  The problem is that the food companies just don’t like many of these warnings, and would like them to be gone.  

But frankly, I don’t see how this isn’t going to backfire.  The Republicans won’t control the FDA forever, and how happy will the food companies be once a Dem president starts adding even more warning labels?  But overall, it probably makes sense.  As I said, the food companies are already including any state’s warnings on other states’ products; so I guess they’re just happy to be able to slow down the process.  Now, instead of just having to work at the state level, these warnings are going to have to filter through yet another level of bureaucracy.  You gotta hand it to these Republicans, though.  They might have been anti-government once, but they’re sure quick learners at figuring out how to make it work to their advantage.