Not COOL, guys. Not COOL.

In a totally uncool move yesterday, Collin Peterson, Tim Walz, and Rick Nolan all voted against repealing Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) in an Agriculture Committee markup, despite the damage failing to repeal the regulations could cause Minnesota’s economy.

If Peterson, Walz, and Nolan had their way, a cool $533 million in goods from Minnesota could be subject to tariffs due to a recent Word Trade Organization ruling, hurting farmers and small business owners who are already struggling to make ends meet.

Support for repeal was hugely bipartisan, and passed by a 38-6 margin. One might have expected cooler heads to prevail, but Peterson – the top Democrat on the committee – and his posse all chose to ignore the damage their opposition might cause and plowed ahead with their “no” votes.

Peterson, Walz, and Nolan can certainly expect a cool reception from voters after antics like this.

“Collin Peterson, Tim Walz, and Rick Nolan need to cool their partisan jets and put hardworking Minnesotans ahead of special interest groups. Instead of joining a huge bipartisan majority in opposing these measures, Peterson, Nolan, and Walz were totally cool playing partisan politics and risking hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to the Minnesota economy.” – NRCC Spokesman Zach Hunter