Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Hopeful news out of Washington this week that the Senate may be getting closer to a vote on the food safety bill before they break for August recess.

Food safety advocates, after watching the food safety bill languish in the Senate for over a year, have been urging Senate leadership to bring the bill to the floor for a vote before Congress adjourns at the end of next week for a month-long recess.

This week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid  reportedly said that he does in fact hope to pass the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act before the break, according to Food Safety News.

Senator Dick Durbin, lead sponsor of the bill, expressed optimism as well, quoted by Politico PULSE saying that he feels more hopeful about passage of the bill “than I have in a long time.”

Issues relating to the bill’s cost and proposed amendments dealing with BPA and small famers are supposedly close to being resolved which could clear the way for a pending vote next week.

The bill, which passed the House last summer, has bipartisan support and unanimously cleared the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee last November.