Political Quotes

“I rise to offer a resolution supporting increased access for U.S. beef and beef products to the country of Japan. Let me step back and set the stage for this resolution. On December 23, 2003, one cow was discovered in the United States with BSE, the disease sometimes referred to in a kind of slang way as ``mad cow disease.'' Even though that animal was actually born in Canada, the reaction of our trading partners around the world was swift and devastating. Almost immediately, Japan and other countries closed their markets to U.S. beef. Virtually with the snap of a finger, we lost over 90 percent of our export market. It just disappeared. At the time, Japan was the largest export market for U.S. beef. It had a value to our producers of $1.4 billion. We began work to address BSE in this country dating all the way back to 1988, when the Department of Agriculture established a BSE committee to make recommendations on appropriate regulatory controls. Our government has developed and implemented a multilayered system of interlocking safeguards to ensure the safety of American beef. After the 2003 BSE discovery, we added even more safeguards. These efforts by our government, in coordination with U.S. cattle producers, have paid off. A 2006 study by USDA found that BSE was virtually nonexistent among the 40 million adult cattle in our country.”