DeLauro Statement on Subcommittee Markup of the Agricultural Appropriations Bill
WASHINGTON, DC (June 28, 2017) — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today delivered the following statement at a subcommittee markup on the budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. DeLauro is a senior member on the Appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Here are the remarks, as delivered:
Thank you very, very much, Mr. Chairman. First, let me acknowledge Chairman Aderholt and Ranking Member Bishop's hard work on the subcommittee bill. Having chaired this subcommittee in the past, I know firsthand the amount of work that it takes, so I thank you—sincerely thank both of you very much.
To begin with, I am heartened to see that report language that I suggested is in the report—the practice of schools treating students with unpaid school lunch fees cruelly and embarrassing them in front of their peers by throwing their lunches away, making them wear identifying stickers or bracelets, or putting them to work. We need ensure that children are never punished for their parents' financial situation—and that all communications about outstanding school lunch fees occur between the parents and the school.
I am also pleased to see language directing a report on what controls are in place to monitor water used in infant formula—this is the first line of defense to prevent children from becoming victims of toxic poisoning, such as lead poisoning, which as we all know, has lifelong detrimental consequences.
I am glad to see the report supporting keeping the catfish inspection program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture—which does continuous inspection, rather than just the 2 percent that is inspected by the Food and Drug Administration.
The bill also includes language that restricts the ability of Chinese chicken to end up on the plates of our school children. Quite frankly, I am very concerned about Americans consuming Chinese chicken given China's history with food safety—especially now that the United States is moving forward with a rule allowing the importation of chicken raised and slaughtered in China, keeping in mind that right now there is an avian flu epidemic in China. And we are now moving forward to accept their slaughtered chicken.
In addition to that, we have engaged with selling our beef abroad, which I understand, but as a quid pro quo, we are now going to accept processed chicken from China and, again, we have no ability to oversee what that process is in in China before that product hits the United States. China has repeatedly faced serious challenges with weak enforcement of food safety laws and regulations—including problems specifically related to poultry products. However, with this language, at least our children will be protected because they will not be able to have this as part of our school lunch program.
I am pleased to see sufficient funding levels for domestic hunger programs—though I am deeply concerned about the steep cuts to international food aid—including the 200 million from Food for Peace and 16 million from McGovern Dole. It begs the question about our humanity. Secretary Perdue says his motto is "Do right, and feed everyone." Do those people suffering in a famine overseas not count toward that goal?
Despite the good things in this bill, the bill is underfunded. Five percent cut below 2017, and it underfunds critical programs in a way that threatens the health of our citizens.
We trust that the food we eat, the medications we take, and the medical devices we depend on have been evaluated with the utmost scrutiny by our government—and that our health and safety is its top priority. Of the institutions of our government, the FDA fulfills some of these most basic promises to American families.
But today, the FDA is struggling to uphold these promises—we continue to add more responsibilities to their plate without increasing funding. We cannot do more with less, we can only do less with less—and given the utmost importance of the regulations under the FDA's purview, we must do more than what this bill provides. Flat funding FDA in my view is irresponsible.
I am deeply troubled by the compounding language included in the report that would weaken and undermine the Drug Quality and Security Act—an already weak provision made weaker by this report language. We cannot afford to lower standards for the compounding industry when the health and the safety of American families is at risk.
This bill also codifies the Trump Administration's goal to roll back school nutrition standards, and I believe there again, threatening the health of our kids.
I am concerned to see that the report maintains language that prevents the FDA from finalizing guidance on laboratory developed tests, which are currently unregulated. We all have heard horror stories about these tests giving false positives, resulting in patients receiving unnecessary treatment and surgeries. Given the movement on precision medicine, it is now even more important to finalize this guidance.
I am also concerned to see that this bill would change the so-called "grandfather date" to exempt many e-cigarettes and other tobacco products now on the market from an FDA product review requirement. The bill also contains language that will roll back FDA's ability to regulate premium and large cigars.
Finally, the bill continues to underfund the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. We should not undermine CFTC's ability to oversee risky market behaviors, protect consumers, and enforce the law by providing insufficient funding. This will hamper the agency—leave it without the tools it needs to properly oversee massive commodities markets.
Despite important reforms in some areas, in my view, the bill leaves large swaths of the general public at risk and vulnerable to food and drug safety threats. My hope is that we can refocus on these priorities that this bill neglects as we move toward full committee markup. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member.
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