Fw: DELAURO LAUDS PASSAGE OF FULL-YEAR FUNDING ACT, FOOD SAFETYLEGISLATION

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From: "Richards, Kaelan" <Kaelan.Richards@mail.house.gov>

Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2010 17:55:19 -0600

To: Richards, Kaelan<Kaelan.Richards@mail.house.gov>

Subject: DELAURO LAUDS PASSAGE OF FULL-YEAR FUNDING ACT, FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                               CONTACT: Kaelan Richards

December 8, 2010                                                                   (202) 225-3661

 

DELAURO LAUDS PASSAGE OF FULL-YEAR FUNDING ACT, FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION

 

Washington, DC— Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), Chairwoman of the FDA and Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, released the following statement today praising the passage by the House of Representatives of the Full-Year Funding Act, a Continuing Resolution that freezes discretionary appropriations for FY 2011 at the FY 2010 level, at $45.9 billion less than the President's request.

 

Included in this legislation is the Senate's FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which was passed last month. Due to Constitutional requirements requiring spending bills to originate in the House of Representatives, the bill will now be sent back to the Senate for final passage. As Chairwoman of the FDA and Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Congresswoman DeLauro has worked to strengthen the country's food safety system, and first introduced a version of this legislation in 2008. 

 

"In these difficult economic times, it is critical that Congress is focused on providing help to those who need it most. The Continuing Resolution does that, and will help to create jobs, ease the financial burdens of education, enable families to afford child care, and provide better access to medical care. It also provides unemployment insurance benefits, which will help millions of Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Additionally, this legislation prohibits funding for Congressional earmarks and freezes non-military federal pay for two years.

 

"While not as strong as the food safety legislation passed by the House of Representatives in July of 2009, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act is a good first step in reforming our food safety system and reducing food-borne illness in this country. Speaking as Chair of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, this bill continues the important and still-necessary investments we made last year in agricultural research, rural investment, nutrition and food aid, conservation, and the public health.

 

"It includes critical reforms that will strengthen our food safety system by increasing inspection of high-risk facilities, giving the FDA expanded authority to inspect records relating to recalls, creating a more accurate registry of all food facilities, improving traceability of food history in the event of an illness outbreak, and certification of certain foreign food imports as meeting all U.S. food safety requirements. But our food safety efforts should not, and will not, end with the passage of this bill. I believe that we must establish a single food safety agency, one that would consolidate all the food safety functions currently spread across fifteen federal departments under one roof. This single agency would provide a regulatory structure that can take full advantage of the great work being done by the scientists around the country to keep our food disease-free and our families protected. I will continue to fight for this single agency. I believe it is needed to ensure that the food in our supermarkets, restaurants, and kitchens is safe."

 

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www.delauro.house.gov

 

 

___________________________________

Kaelan Richards

Press Secretary

Office of Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)

(202) 225-3661 (office)

(202) 225-1599 (cell)