Richard Pombo: “I opposed this amendment with mixed emotions because I basically support the idea; but it is much more complicated than…”

“I opposed this amendment with mixed emotions because I basically support the idea; but it is much more complicated than we can solve in an amendment to the farm bill this evening. This is not a food safety issue. If Members are afraid of imports in terms of food safety, then that is a completely different part of Federal law that Members have to look at. When Members are voting on trade bills, we can talk about food safety coming in. That has nothing to do with country of origin. It is handled by a completely different part of Federal law. The other issue is what the cost is. This has been brought up, what the cost is. The retailer is limited as to what they can charge. If we put another cost on top of that, our producers are going to pay that cost, not the retailer. Mr. Chairman, we have to weigh this thing in its entirety, we cannot just come up with an amendment like this.”