Ayotte Renews Call to Repeal Duplicative USDA Catfish Inspection Program

Press Release

On the Senate floor this week, Senator Ayotte called for a vote on an amendment she is cosponsoring that would end the USDA's duplicative catfish inspection program, which the Government Accountability Office has estimated will cost $30 million to start, plus $14 million a year to operate-as opposed to the $700,000 annual cost of the original inspection regime

"...[There are] nine [Government Accountability Office] reports about the fact that we are wasting taxpayer dollars on a duplicative inspection regime that we should eliminate. And the fact that we can't get a vote on the Senate floor on such a wasteful use of taxpayer dollars? This is why people get frustrated with Washington." - Senator Kelly Ayotte

Background:

Senator Ayotte is cosponsoring an amendment to the trade bill introduced by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and John McCain (R-AZ) that would repeal the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) duplicative catfish inspection office. Ayotte has also cosponsored two previous amendments that would repeal this duplicative program. In 2012, the USDA's catfish inspection program was eliminated by voice vote in an amendment to the Farm Bill, but failed to pass the full Senate. Ayotte has also signed multiple letters urging the repeal of the program.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) traditionally has been tasked with oversight of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) catfish food safety inspection program. However, a provision included in the 2008 Farm Bill removed FDA oversight of only catfish, transferring inspection responsibilities of the whiskered fish to the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) within USDA. The switch will require seafood companies that handle catfish and any other seafood product to be subject to redundant and inefficient regulations from both FDA and FSIS. Neither of these public health agencies recognizes the legitimacy of each other's inspections, despite the fact that the FDA has been capably inspecting catfish for years. Earlier this month at a Small Business Committee hearing, Senator Ayotte questioned Steven Solomon, the Deputy Associate Commissioner for FDA Regulatory Affairs, about FDA's ability to inspect catfish and he agreed that FDA is capable of inspecting catfish.

In nine separate Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports from 2011 to 2015, GAO has identified USDA's catfish inspection program as duplicative, a waste of taxpayer dollars, and consequently called for its elimination. Astoundingly, FSIS has spent $20 million in taxpayer dollars in the past four years for the catfish program, and has yet to inspect a single catfish. Over the next decade, FSIS catfish oversight will cost American taxpayers $170 million, performing the same job the FDA fulfills for $7 million.

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