House Proceeding 07-30-09 on Jul 30th, 2009 :: 1:09:45 to 1:14:25
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1:09:41 to 1:10:01( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: american consumers and the well-being of american farm -- farmers, agriculture and producers. it is a bad, bad motion to recommit. i urge the house to reject it. the speaker pro tempore: the chair advised the gentleman from oklahoma is entitled to his five minutes and is recognized. mr. lucas: thank you, mr. speaker.

1:09:45 to 1:14:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Frank D. Lucas

1:10:02 to 1:10:23( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: let me once again express my gratitude to the chair and the ranking member of the energy and commerce committee. they have both put a great deal of effort in developing this important piece of legislation. and they're to be commended for their attempts to accommodate the concerns raised by members of the minority party of the agriculture committee. during the past few days i've discussed many of the more

1:10:24 to 1:10:44( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: objectble provisions of this legislation. today i'm hopeful and optimistic in offering this motion to recommit that we can at the very least address two of the bills' most glaring omissions. specifically i'd like to focus on what i believe to be a lack of accountability on the part of the food and drug administration. the legislation before us

1:10:45 to 1:11:09( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: provides the agency with numerous punitive authorities as well as a new source of revenue charged to people wishing to be in the food business. but it does not require the f.d.a. to spend one additional penny on the inspection of food. i'm hopeful that my colleagues will agree that this is something that we can and should address in this bill as it

1:11:10 to 1:11:31( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: leaves the house. spend a portion of the funds collected as registration fees for additional food inspections in the united states of america, let' to call this bill the food safety enhancement act, we should probably have something in here that actually enhances food safety. now another issue that's very

1:11:32 to 1:11:52( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: troubling, and the one we hear repeatedly from farm groups, is the issue of indemocratnyifycation. i would point out that the ranking member splaped that concern in a dear colleague that was sent out last night. the issue can be illustrated with the example of what happened to tomato crops in 2008.

1:11:53 to 1:12:15( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: f.d.a. mistakenly attributed an outbreak of salmolla to tomatoes. it was later discovered that the contaminated peppers were the actual srce of the illness. however, the discovery came after a large part of the 2008 toe day mow -- tomato crop was destroy and the industry suffered perhaps $100 million in

1:12:16 to 1:12:36( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: losses as a result. i appreciate that mr. dingell and mr. baon feel that passe of thibill will reduce the number of and the severity of these mistakes in the future. i truly hope they are right. unfortunately we must not kid ourselves into believing that the f.d.a. will not make such

1:12:37 to 1:12:57( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: mistakes in the future. wrongly implicating agriculture products to food-borne disease outbreaks can cause severe economic losses to farmers who can ill afford them. unfortunately, this legislation does not address this real concern. we attempt to address this omission in our motion to

1:12:58 to 1:13:18( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: recommit. we propose that some of the money coming from the registration fees set aside for prementive purchase product from producers and, remember, these purchases only result from a changes ll not fix everything

1:13:19 to 1:13:39( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: that we feel to be wrong with the legislation, but they will address some of the more significant problems nothing in this motion adds to the cost of the bill. but it does strengthen f.d.a. accountability and it guarantees enhanced food safety inspection. once again, let's direct that

1:13:40 to 1:14:02( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: half the money go to food inspection, let's make sure the other half of this legislation -- rental administration money is going to correct the mistakes f.d.a. may make. i urge all of my colleagues to support this motion. let's clean up two of the biggest problems and let's move forward. i urge all of my colleagues to support this motion once again

1:14:03 to 1:14:23( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: and, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dingell: i understand that the majority is in the committee that handles the bill's entitled it to close is that correct? the speaker pro tempore: that's correct. mr. dingell: then i ask unanimous consent that i be permitted to proceed. the speaker pro tempore: without

1:14:24 to 1:14:25( Edit History Discussion )

Frank D. Lucas: objection.