DeLauro Holds Hearing with USDA's Inspector General

Press Release

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following opening statement during a subcommittee hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2009 budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at which USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong testified.

Below is the text of her statement, as prepared for delivery.

The committee is called to order. Thank you and let me welcome all of you today. Thank you for being here Inspector General Fong, it is good to see you again. I have said it before: you are the people's eyes and ears at the USDA, and the work you do everyday is critical to our success.

While the USDA's programs are complex and expansive, your reviews bring the clear opinion and objective perspective we need in order to get a full picture of what is at stake. One can always find faults, but I think your reports take the next step and in many cases, identify systemic problems we must confront in order to make progress.

I will be asking you a number of questions about major programs at the USDA. We have addressed some of these before and I will continue to press you on them because we have a responsibility to get them right.

In particular, I want to examine the Department's move toward risk-based inspections. Your work this year has confirmed our long-standing concerns that the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) lacks the coherent data to support a risk-based inspection system.

Inspector General Fong, your report is clear: FSIS did not have the data and still does not have the data to move forward with risk-based inspections. Yet the agency rushed to implement the system anyway without the necessary information.

Worse still, you found that FSIS failed to implement earlier recommendations from your office even though they could have facilitated risk-based inspection's implementation in processing facilities.

FSIS agreed, for example, to strengthen security over information technology resources and application controls in response to two previous reports. Now your latest report confirms that FSIS systems remain vulnerable and exposed to unnecessary risks. I look forward to hearing your analysis of FSIS's efforts and its reaction to your reports.

Another issue I am interested in discussing involves Food Service Management Companies -- an issue that my colleague, Ms Emerson cares about deeply as well.

In December 2005, your office presented the results of an audit of cost-reimbursable contracts between School Food Authorities (SFA) and a Food Service Management Company (FSMC).

The audit found that the management company did not pass on at least $1.3 million in savings it received, even though its contracts specifically required the crediting back of the funds. In addition, I have also heard complaints in my own district about the lack of quality, nutritional food being served in the New Haven public school system.

I also want to discuss serious concerns about the Agricultural Marketing Service's management controls. The latest Hallmark/Westland beef recall raises red flags about the standards we are using to maintain the safety and quality of the food we using in our federal assistance programs, including the School Lunch Program. The American taxpayers and the children whose diets and daily safety depend on an effective school lunch program deserve honest answers.

There are still more concerns raised by your recent review of the relationship between the National Resources Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency in California . With multiple conservation programs in the mix, it is clear that a failure to communicate can have serious consequences. Limited taxpayer funds are at stake, and so are the precious natural resources we are supposed to be protecting in the first place.

In addition, upon review of the USDA budget, we noted a massive and growing balance of unspent funds for Farm Bill conservation programs. This raises serious questions about the department's capabilities to deliver these programs' services in a timely and efficient manner.

I hope we can talk about some of these problems, and begin to address them systematically. Otherwise, we are just developing short-term solutions.

Ms. Fong I appreciate your dedication to the long-term strength and integrity of the agencies you review. My colleagues and I may express great frustration at times while you are testifying before this subcommittee. But of course, it is not you, it is the issues you raise and the problems you highlight within the Department.

Thank you for meeting your responsibilities to the American people and for being here today.

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