{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pingree.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6765", "\u2018A Handout to Big Chemical\u2019: On House Floor, Pingree Speaks Out Against Republican Farm Bill", "2026-04-30", "2026", "2026-04", "Democrat", "House", "ME", "Chellie Pingree", "P000597", "pingree.house.gov", "pingree", "https://pingree.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "Speaking on the House floor last night, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) condemned the Republican Farm Bill that fails farmers and puts chemical company profits over the health of Americans. Pingree spoke in support of an amendment to remove dangerous, industry-written language that would pre-empt state rights to regulate pesticide usage or labeling and provide a liability shield for pesticide manufacturers. Representative Anna Paulina Luna\u2019s (R-Fla.) amendment language is identical to the bipartisan amendment Pingree and Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced.\n\n\u201cOur amendment to strike the pesticide liability shield sections from the Farm Bill has drawn broad bipartisan support, both within this chamber and across America,\u201d Pingree said. \u201cThe harmful language that Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee included in the Farm Bill is a handout to Big Chemical and preempts states\u2019 rights to regulate pesticide usage or labeling and provides a liability shield for pesticide manufacturers.\u201d\n\nClick here to watch Pingree\u2019s full remarks\n\nTranscript:\n\nThank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the ranking member for yielding me the time.\n\nI am sorry to say that this is a terrible Farm Bill. As a result of this bill, more people will go hungry. More farmers will lose assistance to conservation programs that are already oversubscribed. And more farmers who are struggling to make ends meet will find it more and more difficult to hang onto their farms.\n\nI have a lot of concerns about this bill, but I\u2019d like to use the limited time I have to show strong support for Representative Luna\u2019s pesticide amendment. I am proud to say that her amendment, which was made in order, mirrors the language of the bipartisan amendment I sponsored with Representative Massie, and I want to thank Representative Luna for also working on this important issue.\n\nOur amendment to strike the pesticide liability shield sections from the Farm Bill has drawn broad bipartisan support, both within this chamber and across America.\n\nThe harmful language that Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee included in the Farm Bill is a handout to Big Chemical and preempts states\u2019 rights to regulate pesticide usage or labeling and provides a liability shield for pesticide manufacturers.\n\nPut simply, this language puts chemical company profits over the health of Americans.\n\nMore than 200,000 Roundup-related health claims have been made against Bayer. Behind the numbers are real people\u2014husbands, wives, farmers, even pets\u2014with heartbreaking stories. People suffering from non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma and other devastating cancers, racking up outrageous medical bills.\n\nAnd what\u2019s worse, chemical manufacturers have spent time and money developing additional uses for these same chemicals beyond killing weeds. We see glyphosate now used to dry crops before harvest, and that means it makes its way into more and more of our food system. That means the bread we\u2019re eating, the hummus, the pasta, is more likely to contain this toxic and dangerous chemical. So more and more people are ingesting it without even realizing it.\n\nIf this language is not removed, we will have handed companies like Bayer exactly what they have spent millions of dollars and lobbying power on: legal immunity.\n\nEarlier this year, I successfully sought to strip similar language from the FY 2026 Interior Appropriations funding bill. Unfortunately, the work we did in that committee did not deter Bayer, who, armed with 53 lobbyists and millions of dollars, immediately got to work to get their get-out-of-jail-free card elsewhere, in this Farm Bill and at the Supreme Court.\n\nDemocrats, Republicans, and citizens across this country agree: Keep this language out of the Farm Bill.\n\nI urge my colleagues to support this amendment. I thank you, and I yield back.\n\nBackground:\n\nPingree, a longtime farmer and member of the House Agriculture Committee, attempted to strip this language from the Farm Bill during the committee markup in February. Pingree and Massie introduced the bipartisan Pingree-Massie Protect Our Health Amendment to remove this language from the final Farm Bill.\n\nIn January, Pingree successfully removed a similar provision from the FY2026 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill.\n\nEarlier this year, President Trump signed an Executive Order to increase domestic production of glyphosate\u2014a widely used weedkiller that has been linked to multiple health issues, including non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma. Pingree and Massie also introduced the No Immunity for Glyphosate Act, which would undo Trump\u2019s Executive Order.\n\nOn Monday, April 27, the U.S. Supreme Court heard an appeal by the manufacturer of Roundup, supported by the Trump Administration, over lawsuits that allege it failed to warn consumers about the product\u2019s dangers. Pingree and Massie both spoke at the \"People vs. Poison\" rally outside the Supreme Court [photos available here].\n\nPesticides in the United States are regulated under a combination of federal, state, and local laws. Debates over state and local authority to regulate pesticide use have been litigated for decades, particularly in cases involving widely used chemicals such as Roundup and paraquat, which have been linked to serious health harms. Many states, cities, and counties have adopted measures to restrict pesticide spraying near schools, homes, and public spaces, citing the heightened vulnerability of children to toxic exposure and risks to brain development, reproduction, and long-term health.\n\nSeven states\u2014Maine, Alaska, Hawaii, Maryland, Utah, Nevada, and Vermont\u2014do not preempt local governments from regulating pesticide use within their jurisdictions. In Maine alone, there are more than 30 state and local regulations related to pesticide use and warning requirements that would be undermined or preempted under this Republican pesticide provision in the Farm Bill.\n\n###", 1, "2026-05-01T06:06:26Z", "2026-05-01T06:08:22Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pingree.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6765"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9940000493079424, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}