Part B Amendment No. 6 Offered by Mr. Garrett of New Jersey
Part B Amendment No. 6 Offered by Mr. Garrett of New Jersey -- (House of Representatives - July 08, 2009)
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Ms. DeLAURO. This amendment increases the funding for the Natural Resources Conservation Service Account by $5 million by decreasing the Farm Service Agency salaries and expenses.
While I am very supportive of the efforts of this amendment with regard to technical support and of easing the backlog, I must say that I do not think it is a good offset, but we did not write the language, and we will fix the offset in conference.
With that, I urge the adoption of the amendment and ask for a ``yes'' vote on this amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. I appreciate that. I just have a question while we're on the floor, just for my edification. Are there other areas that you would suggest now where the offset should come from?
Ms. DeLAURO. Well, what I would like to do is to see what the best opportunities are, but I have indicated my support for the amendment.
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Ms. DeLAURO. I strongly oppose this amendment.
This amendment would take away the entire increase over 2009 that is provided in this bill for the Food and Drug Administration. That increase will allow the agency to increase staffing, including staffing devoted to inspections and other field activities, make real improvements in FDA's work to ensure the safety of foods and medical products. For example, in the foods area, FDA will be able to conduct 1,150 more foreign and domestic food inspections and do 20,000 more examinations of imported food products. In the medical products area, FDA will conduct 3,300 more examinations of imported drug products and 4,400 more examinations of imported medical device products.
The FDA will also be able to update its labs with new equipment, will allow it to do a faster analysis of examples. This is especially important during food-borne illness outbreaks. And we have watched what's happened in food-borne illness outbreaks not only in terms of the public health, but we have left industry out there to be exposed and to be able to lose their share, whether it is leafy greens, whether it's tomatoes, whatever it is, if we cannot allow these laboratories to function and to find out what's going on.
The investments reap benefits in the next several years. New inspectors hired with funds in this bill are fully trained, bringing significantly more domestic and foreign inspections and import field exams and other activities by increases in the bill.
We can do research on Salmonella and E. coli biomarkers, new methods of rapid detection of decontamination, improved ability to collect and analyze data on food-borne illnesses. And if you can't understand, when you listen to a mother who says my child of 2 years old died from E. coli contamination--
Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Would the gen tle lady yield?
Ms. DeLAURO. I am happy to have you speak again. You reserved time.
You know, we have just seen an E. coli outbreak in cookie dough. It highlights the importance of what these additional funds can help us to do. The E. coli bacteria lives inside animals, and that's why E. coli outbreaks are often associated with meat products. How, then, does E. coli get into cookie dough? Additional research on E. coli can help determine how it happened and results could prevent future outbreaks.
In addition to the work on food safety, the increased funds will help the FDA work on new screening tests for blood-borne disease to better understand the adverse events related to medical devices that are used in pediatric hospitals.
Another important tool that the additional funds will provide is to allow the FDA to make substantial investments in information technology for both foods and medical products. This allows the agency to receive and to better analyze adverse events electronically, support electronic submission of applications, and access old data for safety analyses.
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Ms. DeLAURO. First of all, it's an 11 percent increase, not 14 percent. I'm trying to save your grandchildren's lives and other grandchildren's lives and my own as well.
We have watched over the last several months and the last couple of years, and the ranking member of this committee understands this and knows this, and we inspect 1 percent of the food that comes into this country from overseas, 1 percent. And the cry has been that there have not been enough inspectors to be able to do that. We are unable to trace back what happened with regard to lettuce, to tomatoes, and others, all of which are putting our families at risk. Your cut, in fact, would put this agency back in jeopardy where it has been for the last several years.
I resent the fact that you as a physician do not understand the value of what the Food and Drug Administration does and that it is responsible for lives. These are not roads. These are not bridges or parks. This is an agency that has authority over people's lives and the public health.
I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.
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Ms. DeLAURO. I would just like to say that this bill addresses the plight of the American farmers, rural America. And I don't come from rural America. I come from the Northeast. But I have farms.
I'm watching dairy farmers go out of business. That's happening all over the country. And watching the technical assistance programs with backlogs that are not addressing the needs of the American farmer.
This bill addresses those issues.
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Ms. DeLAURO. I just have 1 1/2 minutes left--and less than that now.
This bill is looking at how we can in fact meet the obligations that we have in a time of fiscal and economic crisis and economic insecurity all over this country. Under the jurisdiction of this bill is rural development. In addition to that, it protects the public health, which we're obligated to do. And when you see nine people die from peanut-based products because we cannot trace back, we cannot analyze, we do not have--
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Ms. DeLAURO. Though the gentleman who sponsored this project could not be here tonight, he has provided me with the following information.
This is a conservation project for a not-for-profit volunteer program. Natural Biodiversity was initiated in response to citizens' concerns for invasive plant problems in the 1,887 square mile Kiski-Conemaugh drainage portion of the Allegheny River and Ohio River Basin.
Subsequent work has been expanded the geographic area to include the Juniata watershed of the Chesapeake Bay, the State of Pennsylvania, and a much larger mid-Atlantic region.
Invasive plant management work has led to innovative approaches, including
native plant restoration and comprehensive land stewardship practices. Some of their early achievements have been the early detection and rapid response to noxious weeds and 32 invasive plant locations; education and outreach to 10,000 people, with a potential audience of 500,000 each year; development of a management plan for the 1,000-square-mile Raystown branch of the Juniata River.
So, again, it is a not-for-profit volunteer program that is dealing with a concern and a large area about invasive plant problems. And I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I was just going to make one comment, and that's about fiscal responsibility. I am delighted that the gentleman has gotten religion on fiscal responsibility. As I recall, he spent the last 8 years here witnessing the kinds of tax cuts that have provided the tax breaks for the wealthiest people in this Nation and now has brought this Nation to this fiscal crisis that we have and the indebtedness that we have. I think he must have been missing in action for these 8 years where we experienced this.
This indebtedness did not occur overnight. I once again urge my colleagues to vote in opposition to this amendment.
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Ms. DeLAURO. My colleague Mr. Ellsworth talked about this project and has defended it more than adequately. But considering the openness and the scrutiny that has gone into the process this year, I would urge my colleagues to defeat this amendment and continue the good efforts of the proposal that Mr. Ellsworth has made and the whole issue of specialty crops. I share that interest in specialty crops coming from the State of Connecticut where, in fact, that is what we do; and the importance of the research in that area is critical. Support his effort, and oppose the gentleman from California's amendment.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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