(NaturalNews) The agrichemical industry and Big Food took a major hit yesterday after the
Senate blocked a bill aimed at preempting states' rights from enacting GMO-labeling laws; it also would have reversed any labeling laws currently in place, such as the one Vermont passed in 2014, which is scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2016.
S. 2609, coined the
DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act by its opponents, was narrowly defeated yesterday after it failed to receive the necessary votes. At least 60 "yes" votes were required for it to pass; however, it fell short, receiving only 49 yes's and 48 no's.
The
right to know whether or not our food contains ingredients that are genetically altered is so pertinent to public health that we felt it absolutely crucial to let all of you know which of your senators voted
for and
against the bill, which is widely considered an outright attack on consumer rights.
Website glitch obscures vote tallies
The task of pulling the Senate's roll call vote tallies should have been an easy one. But it appears that government incompetence has once against muddied the waters. According to Senate.gov, roll call vote tallies are posted online within one hour of the vote.
However, at the time of this writing, if you go to click on March 16 (the date of the
DARK Act vote), and click on the tally (48-49), you get what appears to be the correct vote results for S.2609, except that it's mislabeled as the "Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015." Next to "Measure Title," it reads: "A bill to reauthorize and amend the National Sea Grant College Program Act, and for other purposes."


This obviously has nothing to do with
GMO labeling, so we phoned the Senate about the error. But they weren't much help, instead reassuring me that they would "escalate" the matter. Despite the confusion, it appears the vote tallies are in fact correct for the DARK Act; ironically, the measure just seems to be labeled inaccurately.
We believe the vote tallies are correct because they match up with
Food and Water Watch's list of senators they say followed through and voted against the DARK Act after being pressured by activists. Based on that information, we are providing you with what we believe are the correct results for how your senators voted.
Rand Paul votes down DARK Act
Though Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
came out against GMO-labeling last fall, he voted against the DARK Act on Wednesday. Here are how the rest of the senators voted:
| Alexander (R-TN), Yea | Flake (R-AZ), Yea | Nelson (D-FL), Nay |
| Ayotte (R-NH), Yea | Franken (D-MN), Nay | Paul (R-KY), Nay |
| Baldwin (D-WI), Nay | Gardner (R-CO), Yea | Perdue (R-GA), Yea |
| Barrasso (R-WY), Yea | Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay | Peters (D-MI), Nay |
| Bennet (D-CO), Nay | Graham (R-SC), Yea | Portman (R-OH), Yea |
| Blumenthal (D-CT), Nay | Grassley (R-IA), Yea | Reed (D-RI), Nay |
| Blunt (R-MO), Yea | Hatch (R-UT), Yea | Reid (D-NV), Nay |
| Booker (D-NJ), Nay | Heinrich (D-NM), Nay | Risch (R-ID), Yea |
| Boozman (R-AR), Yea | Heitkamp (D-ND), Yea | Roberts (R-KS), Yea |
| Boxer (D-CA), Nay | Heller (R-NV), Nay | Rounds (R-SD), Yea |
| Brown (D-OH), Nay | Hirono (D-HI), Nay | Rubio (R-FL), Not Voting |
| Burr (R-NC), Yea | Hoeven (R-ND), Yea | Sanders (I-VT), Not Voting |
| Cantwell (D-WA), Nay | Inhofe (R-OK), Yea | Sasse (R-NE), Yea |
| Capito (R-WV), Yea | Isakson (R-GA), Yea | Schatz (D-HI), Nay |
| Cardin (D-MD), Nay | Johnson (R-WI), Yea | Schumer (D-NY), Nay |
| Carper (D-DE), Yea | Kaine (D-VA), Nay | Scott (R-SC), Yea |
| Casey (D-PA), Nay | King (I-ME), Nay | Sessions (R-AL), Yea |
| Cassidy (R-LA), Yea | Kirk (R-IL), Yea | Shaheen (D-NH), Nay |
| Coats (R-IN), Yea | Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay | Shelby (R-AL), Yea |
| Cochran (R-MS), Yea | Lankford (R-OK), Yea | Stabenow (D-MI), Nay |
| Collins (R-ME), Nay | Leahy (D-VT), Nay | Sullivan (R-AK), Nay |
| Coons (D-DE), Nay | Lee (R-UT), Nay | Tester (D-MT), Nay |
| Corker (R-TN), Yea | Manchin (D-WV), Nay | Thune (R-SD), Yea |
| Cornyn (R-TX), Yea | Markey (D-MA), Nay | Tillis (R-NC), Yea |
| Cotton (R-AR), Yea | McCain (R-AZ), Yea | Toomey (R-PA), Yea |
| Crapo (R-ID), Yea | McCaskill (D-MO), Nay | Udall (D-NM), Nay |
| Cruz (R-TX), Not Voting | McConnell (R-KY), Nay | Vitter (R-LA), Yea |
| Daines (R-MT), Yea | Menendez (D-NJ), Nay | Warner (D-VA), Nay |
| Donnelly (D-IN), Yea | Merkley (D-OR), Nay | Warren (D-MA), Nay |
| Durbin (D-IL), Nay | Mikulski (D-MD), Nay | Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay |
| Enzi (R-WY), Yea | Moran (R-KS), Yea | Wicker (R-MS), Yea |
| Ernst (R-IA), Yea | Murkowski (R-AK), Nay | Wyden (D-OR), Nay |
| Feinstein (D-CA), Nay | Murphy (D-CT), Nay | |
| Fischer (R-NE), Yea | Murray (D-WA), Nay | |
Sources:NaturalNews.comCongress.govSenate.govSenate.govSenate.govNaturalNews.com
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