Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations the Right to Appeal Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I want to add my support to the amendment Senator McCain has just spoken to and my colleague from New Hampshire, Senator Shaheen.

Absolutely we should have a vote on eliminating this duplicative inspection of catfish, what the Wall Street Journal is calling one of Washington's most wasteful programs, calling it the catfish scam.

In fact, we had testimony before the small business committee the other day, and I asked the representative of the FDA whether we need duplicative inspections of catfish because right now the FDA is inspecting catfish for $700,000 a year, and this duplicative inspection of it is estimated to cost over $14 million a year. In fact, there was already a study done by the National Fisheries Institute that the USDA had spent more than $20 million to have a duplicative inspection regime. As Senator McCain mentioned, there are nine GAO reports about the fact that we are wasting taxpayer dollars on a duplicative inspection regime that we should eliminate.

The fact that we cannot get a vote on the Senate floor on such a wasteful use of taxpayer dollars--this is why people get frustrated with Washington when it is sitting right before us, and it is so obvious that we should not waste their money when we already have a perfectly good inspection regime that costs so much less versus this added inspection regime, which in the end is going to hurt jobs across this country, including jobs in New Hampshire, because it is going to create not only a duplicative program that wastes taxpayer dollars that common sense would tell us we should have a vote to eliminate, but it is also going to eliminate the opportunity for trade.

The free-trade agreements that are currently being negotiated could mean over 8,200 jobs in my State.

James Bacchus, the former chief judge on the highest international tribunal of world trade and former Member of Congress, said this program will result not just in a trade war but also a lawsuit, and the United States will lose. Not only will we lose taxpayer dollars by not having a vote on this program and wasting money, but we will also create an unnecessary trade barrier that could impede future trade agreements and American jobs that can be created.

I offer my support for this amendment, and I do believe we should have a vote on this amendment. Why wouldn't we have a vote on a program that has demonstrated--by nine GAO reports--it has wasted millions of dollars which could otherwise be used to pay down our debt or put to good use in programs that are worthwhile. Yet here we are. We cannot even get a vote.

I share my colleague's concern. I thank Senator McCain and Senator Shaheen for bringing this important amendment forward, and I hope we will have a vote to eliminate the wasteful money going into the USDA inspection regime of catfish.

How many times do we need our catfish inspected? It is absurd and time to end this waste and quit wasting taxpayer dollars.

I thank the Presiding Officer.

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