The Center for Food Safety, a GMO-industry watchdog group that has successfully sued the USDA for not properly assessing novel crops under the National Environmental Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, offers this analysis of the riders:

The bill would place strict limitations on what USDA can meaningfully consider when conducting environmental reviews of GE crops, and prohibit USDA from using funds to conduct any additional assessments. Further, all requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act or Endangered Species Act, would be banned, even if a crop approval would harm protected species.

Readers may recall that in a separate recent bill, the House ag appropriations committee snuck in language that would allow biotech companies to continue selling novel GMO products even if a federal court ruled that the USDA had deregulated them without proper scrutiny. The current bill would ensure that the USDA never gets a chance to give them proper scrutiny. Combined, if passed into law, the two bills would effectively negate any semblance of public oversight of new GMO crops.