Executive Session

EXECUTIVE SESSION -- (Senate - January 20, 2005)

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the nomination of Governor Mike Johanns as the Secretary of Agriculture. As the Governor of Nebraska, and a fellow Midwesterner, Johanns has a strong background in agriculture and is well suited for the role of Secretary of Agriculture.

I was able to meet with Governor Johanns yesterday and I was very impressed with his view on the future of agriculture, food safety and rural issues. The next four years are going to be an important time as we face the reauthorization of the farm bill, food safety concerns, nutrition and trade.

Agriculture is important to my home State of Illinois. Illinois is one of our country's most important agricultural contributors. Illinois farm land, which accounts for about 28 million acres, is considered some of the most productive in the world. More than 76,000 farm families in the State produce corn, soybeans, wheat, beef, pork, dairy products, and specialty crops. Illinois is the number one soybean-producing State in the country and number two in corn. Illinois ranks second nationally in the export of agricultural commodities with nearly $4 billion worth of goods shipped to other countries each year. The State's agribusiness activity is vibrant. From the Chicago area to Decatur and throughout Illinois, agricultural processing employs thousands of people. And researchers at the University of Illinois as well as at other institutions, continue to help provide answers to some of the most common as well as the most complex, agricultural questions we face.

Since Governor Johanns was the past chairman of the Governors' Ethanol Coalition, I know he sees the potential of value added agriculture. Adding values to commodities adds real promise for boosting farm income and jobs and economic growth in rural America. Illinois ranks second in the nation in corn production, with more than 1.5 billion bushels produced annually, and is the nation's leading source of clean-burning ethanol. Corn grown in Illinois is used to make 40% of the ethanol consumed in the United States. In Illinois, roughly one in every six rows of corn--approximately 280 million bushels--is the source for ethanol.

As the Secretary of Agriculture, Governor Johanns will face unprecedented challenges in protecting the safety and security of our food supply.

The recent discovery of two more cows with BSE, or ``mad cow disease,'' in Canada reminds us that we cannot ignore the threat of BSE. We must shore up the firewalls that prevent BSE from spreading in this country, to give American consumers confidence that the beef they feed to their families is safe to eat.

We need a scientifically sound testing program that will tell us whether our BSE control efforts are working. A surveillance program should include older cattle that appear healthy but that can still harbor BSE. Almost a year ago, USDA promised to include cattle in this population in its surveillance, but still hasn't started this testing.

We must stop feeding cows to other cows, the practice that is thought to have led to the spread of mad cow disease in Europe. We have had a feed ban in this country since 1997, but we need to close loopholes in the ban and redouble our efforts to make sure that the ban is being followed.

We must make sure that the parts of cattle that pose the highest risk of infection are being correctly and completely removed.

Our primary goal should be to protect the health of the public, and the health of the animal herds in the United States.

I look forward to working with Secretary-Designate Johanns to make sure our nation's BSE prevention and control program earns and deserves the public's confidence.

An issue I care deeply about is food safety. When HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced he was stepping down last month, he noted several items of unfinished business that the government must address. Among them, he mentioned the importance of improving the nation's food security.

Secretary Thompson said that he worries ``every single night'' about a massive attack on the U.S. food supply. Thompson said: ``I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply, because it is so easy to do.''

If this is not a clear call to action, I don't know what is.

I hope to count on Secretary Johanns for support of legislation I plan to roll out in the next few weeks that will give the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration the tools they need to improve the security of our food supply.

My bill would give these agencies authority to oversee implementation of food security measures at food processing plants; give these agencies the same recall authority over food that agencies like the Consumer Product Safety Commission exercise over toys; and improve information coordination among the food safety agencies to diffuse potential threats to the food supply.

I also hope Secretary Johanns will be able to see beyond the bureaucratic morass that has developed at the agencies charged with the safety of our food and help us move towards making the vision of creating a single agency responsible for food safety a reality.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 76 million people suffer from food poisoning every year, with children and the elderly suffering a disproportionate amount of the most serious cases. We need, at the very least, to improve the coordination of the food agencies' oversight while working towards the goal of developing a single food safety agency.

I would also hope that Johanns plans to play a key role in advising the administration on the appointment of a new food safety chief to replace the outgoing Elsa Murano at the Food Safety and Inspection Service. We need a person in this important position that has a commitment to food safety over other agricultural interests as the agency faces challenges including implementing a strategy to keep Mad Cow disease out of the country.

In my meeting with Governor Johanns I was pleased to hear him mention trade. As I mentioned before, Illinois ranks second nationally in the export of agricultural commodities with nearly $4 billion worth of goods shipped to other countries each year. Japan has closed its markets to our beef for over a year. We must take a strong position to reopen this market. Our trading partners have got to be held accountable for dealing with our country in a straightforward way.

As the leader of a major agriculture state, Governor Johanns is familiar with issues of importance to farmers and ranchers. I will support his nomination as Secretary of Agriculture and look forward to working with him on issues facing the Department of Agriculture.

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