To the editor:

U.S. Rep. Steve King has added the King Amendment onto this year’s U.S. House Farm Bill, which passed the House on June 21 by two votes. Fortunately, this bill was not included in the Senate version of the Farm Bill, which recently passed.

This Amendment aims to block states from setting basic standards on the production and manufacture of agricultural products that are sold within their own borders. However, the language is so broadly written that it threatens to undo thousands of state and local laws protecting everything from food and consumer safety, labor protections, environment protection and much more. This is the definition of federal overreach, and it directly flies in the face of the 10th Amendment, which gives states the power to pass their own laws regulating the public health and safety of their citizens, and instead places this power in the hands of the federal government.

If the King Amendment makes its way to the final Farm Bill, then the next item you feed to your friends and family may come from unsanitary sources. We need to stop the King Amendment before now. As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Pat Roberts has the ability to make sure the King Amendment doesn’t make its way into the Farm Bill. Please join me in calling Roberts today at 202-224-4774, and urge him to protect Kansas residents by ensuring the King Amendment is not included in the final Farm Bill package!