04/11/07 Not too cool

Not Too Cool We all know the wheels of government can turn pretty slow. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute to give you an example. The debate over Country of Origin Labeling has been going on in Congress for years now. Former Congresses have repeatedly pushed back the implementation date of this legislation. The wheels of government do turn slow and that can be a good thing. I'm glad any potential laws are thoroughly studied, but sometimes wheel speed is not the only problem. Once in a while those wheels and tires need to be balanced and possibly the front-end aligned. I just read an article by John Goggins in the Western Livestock Reporter that convinced me this is a necessity. Legislation has now been introduced to move up the implementation of COOL to September 2007 from September 2008. That sounds good except a Congressman from Minnesota, Collin Peterson, has a plan to include mandatory ID for cattle with mandatory COOL. The USDA's latest plan calls for voluntary ID for cattle. That's not all of Congressman Peterson's plan  he would make all Canadian and Mexican cattle exempt. That's right  all North American beef would be considered American beef. I thought COOL meant County of Origin Labeling as in "country of origin." Just another example of some government officials, this time the head of the House Ag Committee, caring more about other countries than American producers. I'm Jeff Keane. Western Livestock Reporter 3/28/07