Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of my amendment to this hazardous and radioactive bill called the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act.

Now, I want this body to consider my amendment to the bill for the following reason: The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act became law in January of this year, January 4, 2011. It was necessitated by a continuing series of incidents, such as the October 2009 Stephanie Smith incident, which I will tell you a little bit about. She's a children's dance instructor from Minnesota. She became partially paralyzed from E. coli. According to a New York Times article, ``The frozen hamburgers that the Smiths ate, which were made
by the food giant Cargill, were labeled `American Chef's Selection Angus Beef Patties.' Yet confidential grinding logs and other Cargill records show that the hamburgers were made from a mix of slaughterhouse trimmings and a mash-like product derived from scraps that were ground together in a plant in Wisconsin. The ingredients came from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas, and Uruguay, and from a South Dakota company that processes fatty trimmings and treats them with ammonia to kill bacteria.'' Stephanie has sued Cargill, and I know that many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would want to limit her ability to recover for this injury through misguided so-called tort reform.

But getting back to this matter, this amendment is simple. It would ensure that Americans have access to safe and untainted food. It would create an exception for any rulemaking that seeks to carry out the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.

Every year one in six Americans gets sick from foodborne diseases. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act enables the FDA to better protect public health by strengthening the food safety system.

This bill would make it virtually impossible for Federal agencies to protect public health and safety. Nobody likes to be tied up in redtape, but this bill would bring regulations to a halt and make it virtually impossible to enact new regulations. Currently, rulemaking agencies must make an analysis for every new rule that would have significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, such as small businesses.

However, agencies have the authority to waive or delay this analysis in emergency situations. Now, this bill, Mr. Chairman, would require agencies to determine the indirect costs a rule has on a business, and repeal the authority of an agency to waive or delay this analysis in response to an emergency that makes timely compliance impractical or imprudent.

This summer there was a listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupes that sickened 139 people and killed 29. Just today, The Washington Post reports that Consumer Reports released an alarming study that found high levels of arsenic in samples of apple juice. Consumer Reports is now calling on the FDA to set standards for arsenic levels for apple and grape juices.

The Consumer Reports Group is now suggesting that parents restrict juice consumption to children up to 6 years old to no more than 6 ounces per day. For older children, it recommends no more than 8 to 12 ounces a day.

Now is not the time to hamper agencies, such as the FDA, that are charged with keeping the American public safe. If there is a legitimate concern that our food supply may be tainted, the FDA needs the authority to act quickly and without delay. It's essential that the FDA have the ability to conduct inspections as well as prevention programs without having to go through speculative paralysis of analysis of a proposed rule, nor should the FDA be forced to justify existing rules.

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