Defenders of Wildlife
Rural Updates!
January 23, 2004


OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS PASSES DESPITE OBJECTIONS OVER "COOL"

The Senate passed the $328 billion fiscal year 2004 omnibus
appropriations bill on Thursday, after failing to do so on Tuesday.
Passage was originally blocked by Democrats who opposed
provisions in the bill that would delay implementation of country
of origin labeling (COOL) and relax overtime rules for many
white-collar workers. The bill passed after lawmakers "conceded
they could not sustain a filibuster" with over $6 billion in funding
for new projects in all states on the line. According to the
Washington Post, another factor that moved the bill forward was
that "Republicans who favor country-of-origin food labeling said
Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
promised to deal with the issue -- which gained traction after the
discovery of a case of mad cow disease in a Washington state herd
-- in the first appropriations bill for the new fiscal year."

For more details, see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40106-2004Jan
22.html

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