Hillary Clinton, the TPP, and Protecting Our Food

[Koinos]

One of the downsides of the TPP will be its affect on food labeling and food inspection. What concerns me is that, without country of origin labeling or proper food inspection, consumers in the US will not have the information they need to make choices about food they buy. An example from the past and present that comes to mind is the US government's downplaying of the ongoing effects of the Fukushima disaster, the lack of inspection of or restrictions on imports from Japan, and the cessation of EPA testing for the presence of Radioactive particles in the air, water, and soil.

What is especially disturbing for me is Hillary Clinton's alleged role, as secretary of state, in allowing import of food products from Japan without restriction. Other nations have inspected and rejected imported goods from Japan -- including food, autos, and other products. We have yet to hear from Secretary Clinton about these issues, and I would like her to verify whether the following statement is true:

According to Arnie Gundersen, an energy advisor with 39 years of nuclear power engineering experience, as reported in The Canadian on August 15, 2011: “The US government has come up with a decision at the highest levels of the State Department, as well as other departments who made a decision to downplay Fukushima. In April, the month after the powerful tsunami and earthquake crippled Japan including its nuclear power plant, Hillary Clinton signed a pact with Japan that she agreed there is no problem with Japanese food supply and we will continue to buy them. So, we are not sampling food coming in from Japan.”

From: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/15/whats-really-going-on-at-fukushima/

This is important for me. If Clinton did agree not to test food from Japan and this was done in the interest of not offending our trading partner Japan, then I would question whether the FDA under Clinton -- and even more so with tribunals compelling us to accept Japanese products (even if contaminated) -- would vigorously defend the health and well-being of American consumers.

I would like her to weigh in on this and to give an account of why other countries are screening food from Japan, but the United States is apparently not.

Edited to correct: The US has resumed testing of food from Japan, but "safe level" standards have changed, and not all types of contamination are tested.

[Baitball Blogger]

1. This is criminal negligence. If Japanese food isn't being tested it means that our

government has stopped protecting the health and safety of its own people.

[Koinos]

3. Hot Cod from Japan

On their end, Japan voluntarily stopped exporting "hot cod," contaminated with cesium. But what seafood and other foods (including rice and tea) from Japan has the US rejected? None that I know of. Even Russia has rejected seafood from a large area of Japan, but the US has not.

http://fukushimaupdate.com/fukushima-hot-cod-stopped-from-entering-u-s/

[Art_from_Ark]

7. As someone who is living closer to Fukushima than anyone else here

I will say that you don't have anything to worry about with land-based foods from Japan. Ambient radiation levels have returned to normal in all but a few parts of Fukushima close to the reactors, and no one is living or growing food in those areas. Japanese tea was never a problem, especially Shizuoka tea which is grown far from the radiation range.

I will go so far to say that food here in Japan is probably safer than American food because it is grown with fewer chemicals and contains far fewer additives.

[WinkyDink]

47. "...radiation levels have returned to normal...." Who says? Wouldn't our main imports be aquatic?

[Art_from_Ark]

49. There are all sorts of organizations and individuals monitoring radiation levels

In my area, a major university, the city government, and the High-Energy Research Institute (KEK) are among the organizations monitoring radiation levels.

For example, the current radiation level in this general area is 0.09 microsievert/hour, which is what it was before the nuclear accident.

http://rcwww.kek.jp/norm/

A nearby city government takes radiation readings at schools and parks twice a year. Here are the latest results (from April this year). Once again, normal readings.

http://www.city.moriya.ibaraki.jp/kinkyu/radiation/housyasenn_Kekka/youjisisetutou.files/school20150415.pdf

I will note that that particular city removed topsoil from parks and schoolyards in 2011 when radiation readings were 5 to 10 times higher than normal. It was one of the "hot spots" in this region because surrounding areas had lower radiation readings.

[Baitball Blogger]

50. Isn't Japan the country that refused to buy meat from the U.S. because the U.S.

wouldn't test for mad cow disease?

When did we start becoming so Libertarian stupid with our health?

[Enthusiast]

40. We have seen financial meltdown that wealthy/connected criminals are no longer prosecuted.

If they are it's merely a slap on the wrist.

I don't know about you but I would never knowingly buy food from China. American pets were sickened and died from Chinese sourced pet food. Chinese street vendors were caught using ground cardboard in dumplings. I'm sure there are many more examples.

[djean111]

2. The only answer you are going to get here is that Hillary merely followed Obama's orders

while she was SOS. Depending on whether you agree with what she did, of course. I believe she was just fine with Obama's orders. And if she disagreed with Obama, then, really, the only thing to tout about her SOS stint is that she was good at following orders. That is not exactly Leadership stuff.

I think that if people started to see these trade agreements for what they really are - not between countries, but telling countries what corporations want them to do, and what corporations will allow them to do, then perhaps the sheer awfulness would be revealed. But no, we are supposed to be guilt-tripped by the plight of poor Vietnamese farmers, etc. As if they won't get hurt, too.

Bottom line on food, IMO, is that all food will be on a "yer on yer own" plan. Profits will trump health concerns. Really, the Libertarian method - if enough people get sick or die from a particular food, then, IF others find out about it, they will stop buying that food. The Market is more important than safety.

[Koinos]

5. Hard now, but TPP will make it all worse.

At present, seafood is labeled according to where it is packed and distributed, not according to where it is caught. Some seafood caught in contaminated areas near Japan is frozen on ships and packaged in other countries. With the passage of TPP, we will know even less about food from Japan; and, since Japan will be a party to the agreement and Japanese companies will be able to sue us for not accepting contaminated products they deem "safe," our FDA will have its hands tied even more than it does now. How about Japanese beef and pork as well? And Japanese rice can be found in every US grocery. Even the Japanese people don't know which rice comes from the area near Fukushima, since Japan has been deliberately mixing it with rice from other areas.

[djean111]

9. I first learned about this concerning honey.

Contaminated honey from China is shipped to other countries who package it. Now, when I look at labels, a lot of times the label will say "packaged in", not "product of". This is the future, except maybe we won't even know where food is packaged any more.

I was working in Japan in the nineties when a nuclear reactor had a little accident - a worker used the wrong size bucket or something - and I read that Japan went ahead and sold the vegetables from the fields right next to the reactor, all over Japan. Don't get me wrong, I would go back and work in Tokyo in a heartbeat, I loved it there - but I learned to be at least a little wary about food.

[Art_from_Ark]

27. You are thinking about the "Rinkai Jiko"

that occurred at Tokai-mura, just 70 miles or so down the coast from Fukushima Dai-ichi, on September 30, 1999. Three people died from that accident, which did involve buckets--not the wrong size, but the wrong type. The official manual prescribed the use of a certain type of container, but a stainless steel bucket was used instead (the middle bucket seen in this diagram of the accident).

[djean111]

32. Thanks! My boss called me in the middle of the night when he heard about it on the news -

he said I could come home that very day if I was worried. I had no idea that it had happened! I didn't go home, but I did learn that almost anything harmful would get minimized, like some dairy product causing people getting really sick was first described as just the one store, then just a few stores, and it took a little while for the recall of all the product to happen. Here, it seems the recall is done a lot quicker.

I do miss Tokyo. Like an old James Taylor song says, another land beneath another sky.

[BeanMusical]

4. Kick and R

[Evergreen Emerald]

6. FDA website debunks your concern.

The FDA website has tons if information on what they are doing to test the imports from Japan.

I don't think she should be weighing in on the allegations of every crackpot who wants to bring her down. I do recall the last election when people would believe any negative thing about Clinton that was spewed forth...and disbelieved every positive thing. It is as if people are looking for negative so they can shout their displeasure from the rooftops.

It would be highly unlikely that the SOS would also be in control of the FDA...yet, here we are asking Clinton to defend this bizarre allegation. Indeed, Japan is testing their own food! Why would they ask other nations NOT to do something they are doing to protect their citizens?

I wonder how much of it is sexism? It occurs to me that if she were as all powerful as some here believe, she would make a great President, albeit an evil-genius-overlord.

[Koinos]

13. The FDA is not our friend.

With the Bush administration, the FDA recruited extensively from corporate ranks. Food inspections have been severely curtailed since then for political, corporate, and financial reasons. Scandinavia (as Bernie would agree) does a much better job of policing our food supply, and they have rejected products from Japan, along with certain other European countries.

[Evergreen Emerald]

15. Welcome to DU.

The FDA is getting better under the Obama administration, but I do agree that the FDA is not necessarily our friends. However, in this case, they are testing the food / products from Japan.

[Koinos]

20. I viewed their report.

According to their report, the safe level for cesium in foods is now 1,200 Bq/kg. (Apparently, cesium is safer for us now than it used to be, since the standard has changed.)

What are they testing for besides cesium?

After the Fukushima disaster, the US raised the acceptable level for radioactive contamination. Why do you suppose that was done? Other countries have a much higher standard.

After Fukushima, the US government decided that food from Japan was safe. Other governments have differed with that assessment. Even Japan has on a number of occasions.

Anyway, the FDA says our food is safe; so let's all go back to sleep now (sarcasm).

[Bluenorthwest]

8. This assertion is not correct.

nt

[magical thyme]

10. Country of Origin labeling has already been addressed for meats

just last week, outside of TPP.

We the people lost, naturally.

[Fuddnik]

17. House votes to repeal country of origin labeling

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/house-votes-to-repeal-country-of-origin-labeling-061215.html

It's now up to the United States Senate and President Obama to determine whether the U.S. repeals its country of origin labeling law, known as COOL. As of now, it doesn't like either will ride to the rescue of the consumer-friendly law.

The House this week voted 300 to 131 to repeal the law that is the focus of an international trade controversy.

The law was part of the 2002 Farm Bill and was expanded to include some non-meat food products in 2008. It requires labels to tell consumers where beef, pork, fish, lamb and chicken came from.

Canada and Mexico objected, saying the U.S. law violates international trade agreements. Their appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) was upheld, allowing the two countries to impose retaliatory sanctions on U.S. exports if the law remained in place.



Swift reaction

The reaction on Capitol Hill was swift and fairly uniform across party lines. The threat of potential trade retaliation prompted the House Agriculture Committee to vote to repeal COOL within days of the WTO decision.

The Country of Origin Labeling Amendments Act, which repeals COOL, passed the full House with the backing of House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Michael Conaway (R-TX), who called the repeal a common sense measure.

(snip)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUCK NAFTA. FUCK WTO. FUCK TAA. FUCK ALL TRADE AGREEMENTS.

[turbinetree]

38. And this folks is what the TPP is all about--------Sovereignty-------the loss of Sovereignty

"Canada and Mexico objected, saying the U.S. law violates international trade agreements. Their appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) was upheld, allowing the two countries to impose retaliatory sanctions on U.S. exports if the law remained in place. "






And the right wing guy below jumps up and down when its comes to his version of being a patriot on his agenda, but when it comes to food, air and water this right wing hypocrite has no loyalties to having safe food, water and air----------------none-----------just having staff corporate lobbyists giving him money from the same industries that sit in his office cubicles selling food that is contaminated------oh, did he forget what happened at a containment nuclear plant (Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster) that had a design flaw from GE.

And to be "fair":
How about the shrimp, grouper, tuna coming out of the Gulf down in Louisiana----BP OIL and being put on the market

"The Country of Origin Labeling Amendments Act, which repeals COOL, passed the full House with the backing of House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Michael Conaway (R-TX), who called the repeal a common sense measure."


I guess its appropriate to sell food that has been poisoned---------in his world

[Koinos]

11. Some More Information (to "Digest")

Here is some more information to digest:

"Japan asks globalist trade organization to force South Koreans to eat radioactive Fukushima food"

A number of countries are beginning to require Japan to place region-of-origin labeling on its food products to ensure that anything coming from the radiation-infested regions surrounding the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant are adequately screened for contamination. The decisions by countries such as Taiwan and South Korea have angered Japanese officials, who are turning to the globalist World Trade Organization to force the countries to abolish their protective regulations.

In recent days, Japan threatened Taiwan with filing a complaint with the WTO while actually filing one against South Korea, the latter of which had placed new restrictions on Japanese food imports following the disaster....

Officials in Tokyo are complaining that the South Korean regulations violate rules of international trade.

http://www.naturalnews.com/049911_WTO_Fukushima_radioactive_food.html

[jeff47]

12. You might want to be a bit careful about your sources.

According to Arnie Gundersen, an energy advisor with 39 years of nuclear power engineering experience

Arnie Gundersen predicted that the Northern hemisphere would be completely uninhabitable due to Fukushima. This was to occur by 2013.

We dead yet?

[Koinos]

16. Many people in Japan are "dead yet."

And there are many Japanese children with thyroid cancer.

Fukushima is ongoing, and cancer takes a long time.

There is no "safe" level of radiation. And Arne Gundersen is not the only person who has been talking about this issue. I read lots of sources.

Helen Caldicott is helpful on this, as well.

Over two hundred million gallons of contaminated water are pouring into the Pacific from Fukushima every day.

Again, what products have been inspected and rejected by the US due to contamination from Fukushima?

Other countries have done this. They have even sent back autos and steel. What is going on with our inspections?

About the alleged agreement with Japan, let's ask Clinton about it. I am eager to know, along with her position on TPP.

[jeff47]

22. No, Gundersen said it would wipe out all life in the Northern hemisphere by now.

Not "may cause a spike in cancer in 20 years". Literally everything would be dead. By two years ago. Due to acute radiation sickness, not cancer.

Since not everyone in Japan is dead, much less the rest of the Northern hemisphere, you might want to consider that in putting forth Gundersen as an expert. Just because you like what he says does not mean his predictions are based in reality.

Helen Caldicott is helpful on this, as well.

Yes, you can count on an anti-nuclear advocate who has written a host of inaccurate and discredited books for the truth(tm) about Fukushima.

(And her books are available on Amazon! Now that you know who she is thanks to her dire predictions, buy today!)

Over two hundred million gallons of contaminated water are pouring into the Pacific from Fukushima every day.

How is it the same people claiming 200M gallons of water are pouring into the ocean per day, and also claiming that there's a huge problem with what to do with the contaminated water stored in tanks at Fukushima?

If they are actually dumping that vast volume of contaminated water into the ocean, well then they wouldn't have the storage problem. If they have the storage problem, then they aren't dumping water.

Pick one.

Also, you might wanna try calculating just how much precipitation falls on Japan every year. They don't have enough water to dump 200M gallons per day for years, unless they build a massive aqueduct system to supply the water to Fukushima. And stop drinking.

Again, what products have been inspected and rejected by the US due to contamination from Fukushima?

What products have actually been shown to be contaminated by Fukushima?

Japan imports little in the way of food. By your reasoning, they are consuming vast quantities of highly-contaminated food. Are they all dead yet?

You are aware that Japan actually measures the radiation from food grown in the province around the plant, and so we actually do know how much contamination there is, right?

You are also aware that Japan is not a postage stamp sized country, and thus contamination at one site does not mean the entire country is contaminated, right? Or do we need to ban wheat grown in Nebraska because of Three Mile Island?

Other countries have done this

Other countries do lots of stupid things, and lie about the reasons they are doing it. Did it occur to you that the countries "banning" imports from Japan have competing industries, and thus were not importing much of those products to begin with? And that the bans are excellent PR for boosting their industry at the expense of Japan?

Or are Japan and the US the only countries in the world that lie?

[Koinos]

33. Too much to reply to, but I'll try to do a little...

By the way, thank you for your spirited reply and discussion.

No, Gundersen said it would wipe out all life in the Northern hemisphere by now.

Please provide link to where he actually said that. I am quite sure he didn't.

Yes, you can count on an anti-nuclear advocate who has written a host of inaccurate and discredited books for the truth about Fukushima.

She is quite credible, and her books have been criticized extensively by the nuclear lobby. Are you pro-nuke? I am not.

Over two hundred million gallons of contaminated water are pouring into the Pacific from Fukushima every day. How is it the same people claiming 200M gallons of water are pouring into the ocean per day, and also claiming that there's a huge problem with what to do with the contaminated water stored in tanks at Fukushima?

Fresh water beneath the plant has been contaminated by "corium" or molten fuel from the reactor. This water flows into the ocean constantly and is in addition to water from the surface, flooding the reactors and "leaking" from the tanks.

If they are actually dumping that vast volume of contaminated water into the ocean, well then they wouldn't have the storage problem. If they have the storage problem, then they aren't dumping water.

Pick one.

You need to read more. Contaminated water is coming from beneath the reactors, as well as from the surface. They built the darn things on top of ground water flowing into the ocean.

Also, you might wanna try calculating just how much precipitation falls on Japan every year. They don't have enough water to dump 200M gallons per day for years, unless they build a massive aqueduct system to supply the water to Fukushima. And stop drinking.

Read more about the water problems that are ongoing. It is not just a matter of water "dumped." The whole area is a flooded sieve.

Japan imports little in the way of food. By your reasoning, they are consuming vast quantities of highly-contaminated food. Are they all dead yet?

It takes a long time to die from cancers caused by radiation. The real problem is with internal emitters or hot particles that are ingested or inhaled. Even small amounts are harmful.

You are aware that Japan actually measures the radiation from food grown in the province around the plant, and so we actually do know how much contamination there is, right?

TEPCO and the Japanese government have only recently admitted that their reported "test results" were lower than the actual data showed. They have been making mistakes with the data for some time.

You are also aware that Japan is not a postage stamp sized country, and thus contamination at one site does not mean the entire country is contaminated, right? Or do we need to ban wheat grown in Nebraska because of Three Mile Island?

Japan mixed rice from areas near Fukushima with rice from other areas in order to alter the overall results. And places as far as Tokyo have shown contamination, even in schoolyards.

Other countries have done this

Other countries do lots of stupid things, and lie about the reasons they are doing it. Did it occur to you that the countries "banning" imports from Japan have competing industries, and thus were not importing much of those products to begin with? And that the bans are excellent PR for boosting their industry at the expense of Japan?

Our country does lots of stupid things too, especially for economic reasons. However, some countries do have higher standards than we do when it comes to radioactive contamination in food. Levels that we consider safe are considered unsafe by other countries. Is this to protect the nuclear industry?

Or are Japan and the US the only countries in the world that lie?

Of course not, although some of them are not as corporate-owned as ours is. Some countries actually have vigorous food inspection which is not overseen by agribusiness and corporate lobbyists.

However, the nuclear industry has a lot of influence worldwide.

[jeff47]

42. Fucking reality. Always too long to properly respond to.

Please provide link to where he actually said that. I am quite sure he didn't.

http://enenews.com/gundersen-pyrophoric-fire-fuel-rods-unit-4-pool-cooled-potential-contamination-entire-northern-hemisphere-video

Btw, the surface area of the Northern hemisphere is about 98 million square miles. There's around a couple hundred pounds of radioactive material in reactor #4. Gundersen is claiming that a couple hundred pounds would render all of that 98 million square miles uninhabitable to all life.

He also neatly forgets to consider why radiation would stop at the equator.

She is quite credible, and her books have been criticized extensively by the nuclear lobby. Are you pro-nuke? I am not.

Your measure of credibility appears to be based on your agreement with her position. As opposed to things like math and physics.

As for "pro-nuke", I'm anti-fossil-fuel.

Up until a couple years ago, that required being "pro-nuke". We didn't have the technology to power everything using renewable sources. That inherently meant using nuclear power. The cost of an unlikely nuclear disaster contaminating a relatively small area is vastly less than the guaranteed global disaster of climate change.

Essentially, do what France did.

But time and technology move on. We now have technology in power generation and, more importantly, power distribution that we did not have before. (For example, saying "We can power the world via 1980's-era photovoltaic panels covering part of the Sahara!!" neglects that the power has to actually leave the Sahara to do any good.)

You need to read more. Contaminated water is coming from beneath the reactors, as well as from the surface. They built the darn things on top of ground water flowing into the ocean.

Then cooling wouldn't be a problem. That groundwater would keep the reactors cool, and Gundersen's fears of cooling failure are completely unfounded.

Again, pick one.

It takes a long time to die from cancers caused by radiation. The real problem is with internal emitters or hot particles that are ingested or inhaled. Even small amounts are harmful.

Not from the doses required by your claims.

You are claiming the food imported from Japan is a deadly threat to all Americans. We import virtually no rice from Japan, but the Japanese eat a ton of rice grown in Japan. For the foods we do import to be so contaminated, that rice must be HIGHLY contaminated. So the Japanese would be dying of acute radiation sickness due to their rice.

TEPCO and the Japanese government have only recently admitted that their reported "test results" were lower than the actual data showed. They have been making mistakes with the data for some time.

Gets back to the "where are the dead Japanese" problem. They're eating the rice.

Japan mixed rice from areas near Fukushima with rice from other areas in order to alter the overall results.

False. Sacks of rice harvested near Fukushima are tested independently. If they pass those tests, the rice can be mixed with the rice grown in other parts of the country.

And places as far as Tokyo have shown contamination, even in schoolyards.

I can measure contamination everywhere on the planet, thanks to nuclear weapons, as well as natural sources of radiation. That isn't a measure of how contaminated everything is. It's a measure of how good our sensors are.

For that contamination to be a health risk, it has to be more than detectable. It has to be enough to cause harm.

At which point you'll probably say "No level of radiation is safe!!!". Which would mean the sun has already killed us all. We can detect lots and lots of radiation from it hitting the Earth.

Using the "no radiation" standard is using a scientific concept in a layman context.

Our country does lots of stupid things too, especially for economic reasons. However, some countries do have higher standards than we do when it comes to radioactive contamination in food.

So you're going to argue Russia has better environmental contamination standards?

Levels that we consider safe are considered unsafe by other countries. Is this to protect the nuclear industry?

No, it's because nobody has been able to demonstrate harm caused by the US level of contamination.

But you can win votes by claiming to protect people from nuclear contamination. Make sure to say the last two words in a menacing voice with a minor-key soundtrack in your ad campaign.

However, the nuclear industry has a lot of influence worldwide.

If the nuclear industry is so powerful, how come they haven't been able to build any new nuclear plants in the US in decades? Or in Japan, for that matter?

Just because someone only makes tens of millions instead of tens of billions does not mean they are not trying to sell you something.

[Koinos]

48. Oh my... Too much to respond to, and I am tired.

This is the sort of discussion that would have to continue over a long period. Each argument you make breeds new arguments and counter-arguments.

By the way, what is going on at Fukushima is not a melt-down; it is a "melt-through." The water is not cooling the molten fuel as much as the molten fuel is turning the water to steam: air and water contamination.

I may not always present my case adequately.

Source please for this statement:

False. Sacks of rice harvested near Fukushima are tested independently. If they pass those tests, the rice can be mixed with the rice grown in other parts of the country.

Edited to add: Found the source. Rice grown near Fukushima -- tested and cleared for consumption... Even the farmers would not eat it:
http://enenews.com/rice-grown-near-fukushima-plant-cleared-for-sale-farmer-i-would-not-dare-eat-it-myself-we-farmers-know-better-we-feel-guilt-about-growing-it-and-selling-it-video

Too many issues, so little time. But thank you for your comments.

No, there is no "safe" level of radiation. But risk increases with amount of exposure and condition of the immune system. Children are most at risk. Children should not receive CAT scans, unless it is absolutely necessary.

Internal emitters (ingested and inhaled) are much more dangerous than external emitters. That is why even a small amount of hot particles in food can be dangerous.

[Sancho]

14. Hmmm...does the US label GMO's?

I agree food should be labeled - especially if crossing international boarders. Are American pesticides killing bees? Is Roundup a carcinogen? Have any American cattle gotten mad-cow-diease? Have American corporations (like tobacco companies) sued other countries to prevent warning labels on cigarettes using international trade laws? Have American companies built unsafe factories on other countries that would be illegal here? Have American companies (often with the help and blessing of the US government) raided the natural resources and left a mess?

Is the US only interested in other countries labeling imports, but we don't have to cooperate fairly?

There are problems with the TPP, but maybe the US has it's own issues. At 10 today, the Diane Rehm show on NPR will be discussing TPP I heard.

[jeff47]

24. Will she be asking if the TPP has dual citizenship?

/end-snark

[Sancho]

26. Trade agreements aside, I certainly hope there's a path to citizenship!!

It's one of the big embarrassments of the US is that we take advantage of immigrants and their children - allowing the big corporations and employers to treat them like slaves, but they can live for decades in the US without a right to vote, pay taxes, or obtain labor protections. Rubio's parents were illegal immigrants. Jeb is married to a Mexican born immigrant. It's ridiculous. Vermont is one of the states that does not have tuition equity laws - unlike NY and Maryland where other Democratic candidates came from to date.

One of Hillary's decade's old progressive agenda has been the fight for fairness for immigrants. It's one of Bernie's "recent" concerns, but he's been pretty invisible until running for President. Even during Solidarity and Bill Clinton's work to find a place for Poland (Bernie's origin), I didn't find any particular new legislation related to immigration sponsored by Bernie.

Hillary has been active!!

“As a Senator I was proud to cosponsor the national DREAM Act and to vote for it. I’m a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform and I believe that we have to fix our broken immigration system. We have to keep families together. We have to treat everyone with dignity and compassion, uphold the rule of law, and respect our heritage as a nation of immigrants striving to build a better life. And so, bringing millions of hardworking people out of the shadows and into the formal economy is what we’re doing in Maryland and what we need to do across the United States.” Hillary Clinton, 10/30/14

Supporting the DREAM Act. Hillary Clinton has called passage of DREAM Act “long overdue.” This legislation, which would allow immigrant children who “have demonstrated good moral character, and are pursuing a college education or have enlisted in the military, the… opportunity to earn legal status in this country,” was cosponsored by Clinton in 2003, 2005, and 2007.

Fighting for comprehensive immigration reform. Hillary Clinton has long been an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform. She was one of the two cosponsors of Senator Ted Kennedy’s 2004 bill, the S.O.L.V.E. Act, and during her time in the Senate she continued to cosponsor and vote for comprehensive immigration reform legislation. As a presidential candidate in 2008, Hillary called for “a path to legalization” to bring people “out of the shadows,” and she pledged that, if elected, she would introduce a plan for immigration reform “in the first 100 days” of her presidency. As Sec. Clinton recently told a tearful young undocumented immigrant, “I’m a huge supporter of immigration reform and a path to citizenship and will continue to advocate for that.”

Expanding access to health care. Hillary Clinton introduced the Legal Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act to end the five-year waiting period for immigrant children and pregnant women to participate in the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Advocating for her 2007 bill, she said, “While most children receive preventative medical care, such as vaccines and routine dental care, too often immigrant children do not. They are forced to forego treatment and can ultimately end up seeking needed care in emergency rooms—the least cost-effective place to provide care.” Reintroduced and passed in 2009 as part of the Children’s Health Insurance Program reauthorization, former Secretary of Health and Human Resources Kathleen Sebelius praised this legislative push that ultimately allowed health “coverage to all children who are lawfully present in the United States.”

Job training for people with limited English proficiency. Hillary Clinton developed and introduced legislation to expand job training access to people with limited English language skills. Touting this bill, the Access to Employment and English Acquisition Act, Hillary said, “There is no question that English proficiency is critical to economic advancement and improved quality of life for LEP [Limited English Proficient] workers and their families. Workers who are fluent in oral and written English earn about 24 percent more than those who lack fluency, regardless of their qualifications. These individuals are better able to participate in the civic life of their community, which so many LEP individuals in New York tell me they want to do.”

Expanding opportunities to gain permanent residency. As a candidate for Senate, Hillary Clinton called for passage of legislation so that “All immigrants on the verge of gaining residency status should not be forced to leave this country while they wait for the INS to process their application.” The LIFE Act and LIFE Act Amendments, enacted in December 2000, allowed certain eligible immigrants until April, 2001 to apply for permanent residency without being forced to leave the United States first. As a Senator, Hillary urged those eligible to apply for the program and she cosponsored legislation to extend it until April, 2002.

Keeping families together. In 2007, during debate over the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, Hillary Clinton introduced an amendment to reclassify the spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents as immediate relatives. As she said before the vote, “It is time to take all the rhetoric about family values and put it into action and show that we mean what we say when we talk about putting families first. That is what my amendment does… It is our view we must make reuniting families a priority in our immigration system, that we should show compassion for those living apart from their spouses and minor children, that we should reform immigration in a way that honors families and brings them together.” The bipartisan amendment failed, 44-53.

[jeff47]

29. Will you research Sanders's position via Facebook, as Rehm researched his citizenship?

One of Hillary's decade's old progressive agenda has been the fight for fairness for immigrants.

Yes, that's why she wants to throw them out of the country after 6 years. Or did you want me to not count her support of expanding H1B and student visas as an immigration issue?

'Cause Sanders actually has a lengthy history on the subject too. The only significant difference between the candidates is Sanders does not support temporary visas like H1B and student visas, preferring to offer permanent visas.

Also, when claiming Clinton has a lengthy history of caring deeply about immigration, you might want to bother coming up with a plausible reason why she didn't talk about it much in her 2008 campaign. Perhaps you could leave that as feedback on the website you copy-and-pasted from. Also, failing to provide a link is a TOS violation due to copyright infringement.

[Sancho]

35. I'll be glad to show the link. It was just a paste error....

I have looked at Bernie's record. Bernie and Hillary voted almost identically as Senators with minor differences. As you know, sometimes either vote for or against because of a particular amendment, or specific poison pill.

The H1B and student visas have several sides - and even thought they may be abused by some corporations to displace American workers, there is also a proper use. If there's a thread on student visa's and H1B we could get into it. I work with a LOT of immigrants on visa's, and the vast majority eventually become US citizens. That's often the goal of a subset of students here on college visa's - to eventually figure out a way to stay in the US.

Interesting, because I have an employee in the next room from Brazil who originally came here illegally 20+ years ago. She is typical, but the stories of how they play the game with visas, green cards, fake marriages, joining the military, hiring lawyers, living for decades "underground", and what they want for their families is amazing. In Florida about 25% were born out of the US (no one actually knows). My neighbors on both sides are from Argentina and Poland. Another employee came from Italy and was in the US Military during Vietnam. I have co-workers from Turkey, Poland, Greece, Cuba, and Argentina.

Almost all spend 10-15 years paying lawyers and manipulating the system to get US citizenship if they can, or else they give up and live "underground".

http://correctrecord.org/hillary-clinton-and-immigration/

[Sienna86]

18. This is not good for consumers, including my children.

Chicken from China, rice from Fukashima affected areas. No thanks. They don't want to label country of origin? Why not? What is there to hide?

[Duval]

19. K&R nt

[ConservativeDemocrat]

21. Anti-Hillary LIE immediately upvoted on the DU

...multiple facts debunking it in the responses.

Imagine my lack of surprise at this. It's DU in a nutshell.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Koinos]

23. I'm not sure how the claim about a possible agreement with Japan is debunked.

The instructions could have come from the same sources who said that the Gulf of Mexico was safe to swim in and seafood from the Gulf of Mexico was safe after the BP "spill."

The nuclear industry did everything it could to cover up the consequences of the ongoing Fukushima disaster.

The US did what it could to protect trade with Japan.

The US has rejected no food imports from Japan, while other countries have. What types of testing are done? And for what kinds of contaminants?

FDA standards of acceptable levels of contamination have changed since Fukushima. Why? Products are considered safe now that would not have been considered safe in the past.

I raise the question: What went on between the US and Japan after the Fukushima disaster?

Helen Caldicott seems to believe that Clinton was involved. I can't find a definitive answer to that question, but I do know that protection of our food supply -- however "iffy" it is right now -- will not improve with the passage of TPP.

[Cryptoad]

25. Another negative attack on HRC

Bernie has asked yall to stop..... only thing you are helping is to defeat Bernie

[djean111]

30. Expressing disagreement with Hillary's official deeds and policies and decisions is not a "negative

attack". This is how many of us become aware of just what a candidate stands for. The deeds not words thing. Conflating criticism of policies with "negative attack" is kind of silly.
If Hillary is using her stint as SOS on her resume, then what she did while SOS is up for dissection and criticism.

[Cryptoad]

31. Everybody really knows why this OP was posted....

this kinda stuff is hurting Bernie,,,, thats why Bernie has asked for this to stop..... its Bernie Positive Attributes that will elect him..

[djean111]

34. Oh, you mean like eleventy identical OPs about Bernie voting for the MOST REPREHENSIBLE

GUN BILL EVER!!!!!!!!
I don't think that anyone offended by this OP, or dismissing it as a "negative attack" was really going to vote for Bernie. Plus, this is a pretty small DU bubble.

[Cryptoad]

37. Im not worried about HRC problems

trying to get Bernie Elected.....

[djean111]

39. Calling any criticism of HRC's deeds and policies a negative attack is not helping, IMO.

[Koinos]

41. I'm not a Bernie "protector." Bernie can take care of himself.

But I am concerned about food safety, the TPP, and how Clinton comported herself during and after the Fukushima disaster.

We will probably never know what happened behind the scenes, but Clinton certainly could talk about how food can be protected and whether such protections would be compromised by the TPP.

These issues go way beyond primary politics and candidate fan clubs.

No candidate is a delicate "god" who needs to be protected from legitimate questions. No candidate walks on water.

Whoever we choose in the end will have plenty of virtues and plenty of faults. It goes with being human.

That pertains to all candidates in the race right now, without exception.

[Cryptoad]

43. Yea,,,

and by happenstance you decide to bring it up today........ Thanks for playing!

[stonecutter357]

28. .

[Gamecock Lefty]

36. Where's Hillary Regarding, Well, Everything???

Recent mudslides caused havoc in rural communities of faraway islands. Where does Hillary stand to make sure these people are safe?

Is Russia doing enough after all these years regarding Chernobyl and its after effects? Where does Hillary stand regarding future relations with Russia? Why won't she tell us her positions?

Abortion clinics are closing in Texas. Does Hillary have a plan to open them back up? Does she favor succession for TX? Why won't she say?

A busted water pipe in St Louis recently contaminated local drinking water for a few hours until repaired. Does Hillary have a back up plan for rusting pipes in this country? Why won't she say - it's drinking water for gosh sakes?!

Does Hillary like clean air? Why won't she say?

And on and on it goes . . .

[Koinos]

45. You are being facetious, perhaps?

The job of the presidential candidate is to address general concerns of the populace, not to provide micro-management plans for the world.

The effects of TPP and other pending trade agreements are of great concern to the American people. That means we have to ask about any possible trade negotiations or agreements Clinton was involved in as secretary of state.

Edited to removed most of what I said (I'm getting tired).

[Evergreen Emerald]

51. Lol you are exactly correct: on and on it goes...

[backscatter712]

44. Hillary's not saying anything about the TPP...

...because if she gave her honest position on TPP, she knows that we the Democratic primary voters aren't going to like it.

Hint: She helped negotiate the TPP. She's not on the people's side on this one.

[Koinos]

46. TPP and Food Safety

Another article about TPP and food:

http://www.citizen.org/tpp-food-safety-facts

Is post-Fukushima trade with Japan an instance of trade taking precedence over food safety?

With TPP, what will happen if food producers in Japan sue us for not accepting their products?