Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota, has withdrawn his name as a co-sponsor of the Protect Interstate Commerce Act (PICA), a bill introduced by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.
Peterson is the chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, while King is a former ag committee member.
PICA is a piece of recurring legislation that seeks to prevent states from engaging in the regulation of agricultural products that are lawfully produced or manufactured in other states. Examples of this would be laws in California, where eggs produced or sold there must come from hens that meet specific housing criteria.
The PICA bill, HR 272, was introduced on January 8. Previous versions of PICA were proposed as amendments to the 2014 and 2018 farm bills, but the final version of both farm bills did not include PICA, which was also known during those times as “the King amendment.”
However, King, because of comments he has made that are viewed by some as racist, have made him a controversial figure in Congress. Following a recent comment he made to New York Times, questioning what is offensive about the terms “white nationalist” or “white supremacist,” he was stripped of his committee assignments, despite King saying he felt his comment was taken out of context.
PICA loses bipartisan support
Without Peterson as a co-sponsor, PICA no longer has bipartisan support. Currently listed as co-sponsors of PICA are: Rep. David Rouzer, R-North Carolina; Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kansas; Rep. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas; and Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio.
Peterson was identified as the most bipartisan member of the House, according to a 2018 index from the Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy that ranks the bipartisanship of each representative.
Peterson, who had earlier been the agriculture committee chairman from 2007 to 2011, regained the chairmanship in January, after spending time between stints as chairman as the ranking member of the committee.
