Young's Agro-terrorism Bill Headed to President Trump's Desk

Press Release

Congressman David Young's bill, the Securing our Agriculture and Food Act (H.R.1238), is headed to President Trump's desk for his signature. The legislation which elevates the nation's preparedness of our nation's food, agriculture, and veterinary systems against terrorism and high-risk events originally passed the U.S. House of Representatives in March. The U.S. Senate considered and passed the bill unanimously with a minor amendment on May 24th and the U.S. House voted Monday afternoon to send this legislation to President Trump to be enacted into law.

"Today the House has taken the final step towards protecting our food supply and agriculture industries in Iowa from high-risk events and agro-terrorism," Congressman Young said. "This important bipartisan effort works to enhance our national security and food safety, for our children and families in Iowa and across the nation. I was proud to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get this vitally important bill to President Trump's desk."

First introduced in 2016 and then again in January of this year, Congressman Young's legislation addresses concerns brought to light after Iowa suffered the largest animal disease outbreak in state history, when the 2015 avian influenza outbreak wiped out millions of layer hens, turkeys, and backyard flocks. Response efforts revealed problematic breaks in the federal government's ability to communicate with stakeholders and react quickly to large-scale animal disease outbreaks. This disaster also raised concerns among farmers and producers about whether our nation would be able to capably share information and respond to agro-terrorism threats and attacks, ultimately an attack against our nation's consumers.

Young's Securing our Agriculture and Food Act takes the critical steps to protect America from high-risk events which pose serious threats to our food, agriculture, and livestock industries across the United States by requiring the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs, collaborate with other agencies, to ensure food, agriculture, and animal and human health sectors receive attention and are integrated into the DHS's domestic preparedness policy initiatives.

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