Senate votes to cut animal-ID funding in half, limit its use; House has already voted to eliminate it

The Senate passed an agriculture spending bill yesterday that would cut in half funding for the controversial National Animal Identification System and allows it to be used only "for proposed rule making, not for implementation," Tom Steever reports for Brownfield Network. The House bill "eliminated all funding for the program for the next fiscal year," which begins Oct. 1. Now the two chambers must resolve their differences.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., "said the funding cut drives a stake into the program's heart," reports Tom Lutey of the Billings Gazette. "Most groups opposed to NAIS represent people with range animals. Program rules would require the animals' every movement from pasture to pasture to be reported," he explains. "Proponents, such as the American Veterinary Medical Association, contend that extensive identification would protects consumer and minimize livestock loss." (Read more)