Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., explains his views on GMO labeling, with other House members in background. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

The Obama administration is unlikely to take a position on H.R. 1599, the biotech labeling bill introduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., that is expected to come up on the House floor on Thursday, sources have told The Hagstrom Report.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today his position had not changed since last week, when he said he thinks the system of barcode labeling for ingredients – on which 90 food companies including Hershey are working – offers more potential than the Pompeo bill, which would ban state labels and set up a “No GMO” label at USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.

The White House Office of Management and Budget is not planning to issue a statement of administration policy on the bill, an administration source told The Hagstrom Report today.

On Tuesday, the House Rules Committee approved a combined structured rule for H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, and H.R. 1734, the Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act, allowing four amendments on the biotech bill. The vote was 9 to 4, along party lines.

Pompeo and House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., presented the bill to the Rules Committee, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, presented the opposition and a series of amendments.

When the House today debated the rule for the two bills, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., led the opposition.

“I believe at the center of the debate about this bill is Americans’ fundamental right to know what’s in the food they eat and how it’s grown,” McGovern said. “I believe people ought to have that right. Plain and simple.”

McGovern noted that he had a stack of letters from food companies opposing the bill.

In addition to Consumers Union, National Farmers Union and the National Black Farmers, McGovern said, the letters came from:

• Whole Foods Market co-CEO Walter Robb
• Chipotle CEO and Chairman Steve Ells
• Clif Bar Inc. CEO Kevin Cleary
• Newman’s Own Organics co-founder Nell Newman
• Panera Bread Inc. CEO Ron Shaich
• Patagonia Inc. CEO Rose Marcario
• American Sustainable Business Council CEO and co-founder David Levine
• Sweetgreen Inc. co-founder Nicolas Jammet
• Chef Think Food Group founder José Andrés
• Craft Hospitality CEO and chef Tom Colicchio

Also today, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., author of a bill to require federal GMO labeling, and Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.; Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.; Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii; Ann Kuster, D-N.H.; and Pingree held a news conference to express their opposition.

Pingree noted that orange juice concentrate is labeled to differentiate it from fresh orange juice. Fish farmers may not want the farmed fish label, but the label exists to inform consumers about wild-caught fish, she said.