THE FINANCIAL REFORM ACT AND THE PHANTOM WAXMAN AMENDMENT

NHF members reside in these countries:

Archive List

PRESS RELEASE

On Thursday, May 20th, the controversial Financial Services Reform Bill (H.R. 4173/S.3217) passed the U.S. Senate. It does differ from the House version that passed previously, so there will have to be a House/Senate conference committee to iron out the differences. Yet the fact remains that both bills are loaded with special favors for special economic interests – and your interests are not one of them.

The Phantom Amendment

It seems that every time we turn around there is a cry of alarm about the latest intrusion into our health freedoms. Unfortunately – or maybe fortunately – half of them are false. The latest false cry is that the fiendishly-clever Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) has sneaked an amendment in to the Financial Reform bill that would do an “end run” around the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA).

Calls to action were made. One well-known health-freedom organization even claimed, "If the Waxman provision becomes law, the FTC will gain the power to override the limited protections for supplements that already exist under DSHEA. The FDA would still have to respect DSHEA, but the FTC would be under no such constraint." Unfortunately, others – trusting in this information – have picked up on this overblown and simplistic message and then spread it far and wide. Adding the Waxman touch is the icing on the cake of course.

This would certainly sound like a typical Waxman tactic. However, the fact is that this bill was reported out of the House Financial Services Committee, on which Waxman does not even serve. After hearing of this “sleight-of-hand” and doing some in-depth checking, it turns out that there were a total of 183 amendments made to the House version of the Financial Reform bill, H.R.4173 – first in the Financial Services Committee mark-up, and then on the House floor when the House passed the bill. All of these are in the Committee mark-up record and in the Congressional Record. Yet, none of these had either Waxman’s name or his fingerprints upon them. Of course anything is possible when a wily legislator like Waxman is a leader of the majority party in the House, but so far there appears to be nothing to connect him with any amendment.

What FTC Wanted and What It Got

Having said that, with or without Waxman’s hand in the House bill, there was still much to fear. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), among other things, sought and would have been given "Fast Track" rulemaking authority as well as aiding and abetting authority. This change would have affected all industries that advertise but was not specifically targeted against the Supplement Industry. Many different industry segments, not just the Natural Products Association for the supplement industry, weighed in on this new-sought authority.

But what the FTC wanted, they did not get. The FTC amendment to the Senate bill, which would have granted FTC more sweeping powers, did not pass. However, the amendment proposed by Senators Rockefeller and Hutchinson that would limit FTC’s increased rulemaking power to just the financial-services sector did pass.

Now, the Senate and the House of Representatives must meet and reconcile the differences between their two bills. So, stay tuned for the real facts here.

********************

Click on this address to find your U.S. Senators: http://www.senate.gov

Contact Information to E-mail Senators:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

The Senate main number is (202) 224-3121

Click on the following link below for individual mailing addresses for
letter writing and other contact info for Congress Members:

Senate

House of Representatives Phone Listings - http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/mcapdir.html

Click on this address to contact your Congressperson in
the U.S. House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/writerep

Fax List for House of Representatives

********************

As the oldest and best-respected health-freedom group on Capitol Hill, the NHF continues to be the credible source of objective assessment of, and proactive actions on, Congressional legislation and FDA matters that have material impact upon our freedom-of-health choices and access to dietary supplements and nutritional foods.

********************

Click here for the permanent link to this press release, use this link to inform others.

National Health Federation: Established in 1955, the National Health Federation is a consumer-education, health-freedom organization working to protect individuals' rights to choose to consume healthy food, take supplements and use alternative therapies without unnecessary government restrictions. The NHF is the only such organization with recognized observer-delegate status at Codex meetings. www.thenhf.com

**************************************

FIND US ON FACEBOOK!

If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, click here.

P.O. Box 688, Monrovia, CA 91017 USA ~ 1 (626) 357-2181 ~ Fax 1 (626) 303-0642
Website: www.thenhf.com E-mail: contact-us@thenhf.com