OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Food Safety Enhancement Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Date: July 29, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Agriculture and Food Food Processing and Sales

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Agriculture Committee, I rise in strong opposition to this bill. We all agree that food safety is an extremely important issue, and improvements can be clearly made to our system, but this legislation concerns me for a number of reasons.

First of all, it will do little to actually increase food safety, and it will add new burdens to many small businesses and farms across the country. One provision this bill contains is an expanded registration requirement which creates a license to be in the food industry. The license is expensive, and the provision will make it unlawful to sell food without it. And this bill would have significant impacts on agriculture sectors, particularly with fruits and vegetables.

Fundamentally, I take issue with this legislation because it opens our farms to the Food and Drug Administration. Farms and agricultural activities are already regulated by the USDA. The FDA does not, and should not, have jurisdiction over farms or agricultural practices.

Good policy makes for good politics, and that can only occur with a real, full debate on this issue, which would occur if this bill would have stayed within the jurisdiction of the Agriculture Committee.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this misguided legislation.

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