Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) called out Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) over claims the upper chamber wants to strip a pesticide amendment from the House-passed farm bill.
Last month, Luna successfully stripped a provision from the farm bill that would have blocked states and courts from penalizing pesticide companies that do not include health concerns on their labels beyond those recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“We are facing a massive population decline and John Thune thinks it’s a good time to shill for pesticide manufacturers,” Luna wrote on X Monday.
“For those who don’t know, a lot of the crap they are spraying on our food during farming IS causing cancer … especially in kids,” Luna said. “Not to mention the KNOWN impacts on fertility. The pesticide liability shield needs to STAY OUT of the Farm Bill. Hearing the Senate is trying to add it back in.”
Prior to the amendment being added to the House-passed bill, Luna threatened that she and other Republican holdouts would “slaughter” the farm bill if the pesticide provisions were not stripped from the legislation.
Critics have said the provision was a giveaway to pesticide companies and would have prevented lawsuits over certain cancers and other diseases caused by the products.
The farm bill that passed out of the House still has an uphill battle in the upper chamber before the major piece of legislation can hit the president’s desk for the first time since 2018 and was later extended in 2023.
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This is not the first time Luna has been at odds with Thune. Earlier this year, the Florida Republican slammed Thune over the SAVE America Act, a voter identification bill, getting stalled in the upper chamber.
Luna and other House conservatives put pressure on Thune by vowing to hold up legislation from passing in the lower chamber until the SAVE America Act hits President Donald Trump’s desk, but have since voted for Senate legislation.