It’s been no secret that Rosa DeLauro - the Chairman of the House Appropriations Ag Subcommittee - wants a mandatory National Animal Identification System. And this week - she emphasized that message - telling USDA and the livestock industry to agree to a mandatory program or the program will be zeroed out in the 2010 fiscal year budget. The program has already been reduced to zero in the Ag Appropriations measure approved last Thursday (June 11) by the Subcommittee.

DeLauro charged that USDA has mismanaged the program while spending millions. She says a mandatory program is needed to provide assurance against economic calamity and to protect our export markets. The move was not totally unexpected. Earlier Collin Peterson - Chairman of the House Ag Committee - said he would support cutting off funding for the program unless USDA finds a way to make the program mandatory.

To date - only 35 percent of animal premises across the nation have been registered. USDA has found - through its recent listening sessions around the country - almost no support for a mandatory program. In fact - they are finding an organized uprising that is calling for an elimination of the program.