Bill Clinton: “I rise to thank the chairman and ranking member of the Budget Committee for accepting an amendment that I believe is so…”

“I rise to thank the chairman and ranking member of the Budget Committee for accepting an amendment that I believe is so important to safeguard the food supplies in our country and thereby safeguard our children from the growing threat of contamination. Presently we enjoy one of the most safe food supplies in the world, but we are clearly not immune to the threats we read about every day in our newspapers. I saw a recent headline in the New York Times that the public does have reason to be alarmed. The Times reported that there are only 400 inspectors to investigate problems at the 57,000 plants in our country. Because of this lack of resources, the FDA inspects food manufacturers only once every 8 years. The American people deserve better than that. So this important measure will strengthen our food safety infrastructure by increasing the number of FDA inspectors so high-risk sites can be inspected annually and would also step up research and surveillance to identify the sources of contamination and track the incidence of foodborne illnesses to help us better meet emerging threats from abroad. Finally, it would protect against cuts in funding for the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture food safety initiatives and ensure sufficient funds in the cases of threats from food safety emergencies. I am very pleased the administration changed its announced policy yesterday about testing the ground meat in our Nation's schools.”