COOL Repealed in Federal Appropriations Bill

On Friday, Congressed passed the $1.5 trillion Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which will repeals the mandatory Country of Origin Labeling or COOL. This repeal will halt the promised retaliatory measures from both Canada and Mexico. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall say that voluntary programs that are already in place provide a better solution to informing consumers where their food comes from.
Woodall: “We've always felt that voluntary industry led programs have been the way to go and we have programs in place right now that have been very successful and that's where we want to spend our time, is focusing on programs that actually do give good information to the consumer, to help them make a wise choice and helps us as producers be successful. That can be done voluntarily and is definitely better when it's done by the industry.”
In addition to repealing COOL the omnibus maintains Congressional oversight to ensure the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans remains within the scope of nutrition and health and are based on the latest nutritional evidence. Another boon for the beef industry is that the bill requires more stringent regulatory process for allowing beef imports from regions with a history of animal disease outbreaks.
Also the bill keeps the EPA in check by continuing to prohibit the agency from requiring livestock producers to obtain Clean Air Act permits or report greenhouse gas emissions on livestock operations. However, the EPA’s WOTUS rule was not address in the omnibus.
Tax extenders included in the bill were Section 179 was permanently extended at $500,000 - up from $25,000 previously.