The question “What do members of Congress think about NAIS?” has four answers: They are for it, against it, undecided, or don’t know anything about it. The majority of our elected officials in Congress are still either undecided or uninformed, so we have a lot of work ahead of us. The good news is it’s easier to educate the undecided or uninformed legislators than change the minds of those supporting NAIS. Since few lobbyists gain direct access to legislators, most of my conversations were with senior staff members. Staffers advise representatives and senators how to vote on an issue, so meetings with them can be as important as a meeting with the legislator they represent.

In favor of NAIS. To us small-scale farmers NAIS seems like a dumb idea, but some legislators think it’s a great idea. One Senate staffer told me we need NAIS for international trade. I explained how we can address trade without programs that are mandatory or coerce people into participating, and that NAIS would actually hurt the market rather than help it. I couldn’t tell if she was prepared to understand the logic, but at least she listened. Another staffer spent most of our meeting quoting the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, ignoring the fact that NCBA is dominated by the meat packers and has a potential financial interest in the program as a founding member of the United States Animal Identification Organization, which will manage animal ID databases.

Several staffers who say they think the program should not be mandatory also claim public pressure will force the program to be mandatory because of concerns with food safety. Since they show little interest in discussing alternatives that would better protect our food supply, I suspect they’re looking for an excuse to push for a mandatory program. The unfortunate reality is that some representatives and senators receive a great deal of funding from Big Ag, Farm Bureau, NCBA, and other organizations pushing NAIS. Others have bought the claim that NAIS will make food safer. Some of these elected officials are not interested in facts or science. Fortunately, we don’t need to convince them all—we just need a majority.

Against NAIS. The good news is that quite a few members of Congress are against NAIS, or at least a mandatory NAIS. Some legislators, who until recently were mailing form letters describing the benefits of NAIS, now understand that those supposed benefits are not real and their constituents don’t want this program. Several staffers were quick to say their congressperson was absolutely opposed to a mandatory NAIS.

Several legislators are eager to help our side. Their staff asked good questions about how we can go about stopping NAIS. The difficulty is getting these individuals to take the lead. Many of them are ready and willing to support a bill or amendment to stop or limit NAIS, but are not prepared to introduce one. We also must educate them about the realities of NAIS, so they understand the problems with even a so-called voluntary program. An encouraging development is that the anti-NAIS legislators are both rural and urban, and from both parties.

Know nothing about NAIS. An appalling number of legislators still don’t know what NAIS is, particularly if they are not on the agriculture committee. Several staffers have no idea what NAIS is, and even when the staffer knows, the legislator sometimes has no idea. I was discussing the NAIS issue with one staffer when the congressman she works for came into the room. He joined in the discussion and, within a couple of minutes, looked appalled at what he was hearing and asked, “Are we funding this program?” He had no idea he had voted in favor of funding NAIS for the last four years. Once he learned about NAIS, he was against it.

That theme was common. Usually the staffers and legislators who know little or nothing about NAIS are quick to grasp what a bad program it is. Typical reactions include incredulous looks and comments like, “This program covers anyone who owns even one animal?” and “How much is this program going to cost?”

Undecided about NAIS. In many cases where a legislator is undecided, the staffers know the basics of NAIS, but are not fully informed. They think NAIS is voluntary, and remain unaware of USDA’s deceptive and coercive methods—like bribing 4-Hers to register farms, and dumping breed association information into the NAIS database—being used to gain “voluntary” participation. They think USDA has created exceptions for small farmers and are not aware of how ridiculously narrow those exceptions are. Or they believe it’s a state issue, without understanding how federal funding and repeated threats to make NAIS mandatory drive the states to implement the program against the wishes of their residents. These staffers are disturbed when they learn about the program’s real-world problems.

• Status of NAIS in Congress
• Making a Difference

Judith McGeary is an attorney in Austin, Texas, who together with her husband runs a small grass-based farm with horses, cattle, sheep, and poultry. She is executive director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, where you can get tools to help fight NAIS—from educating your neighbors to lobbying your legislators. This article appeared in Autumn 2007 issue of Rural Heritage.