Tom Harkin

Let me ask, let me delve a little further.

Do you need 500 more inspectors, or not?

I just don't know if I understand that. You're short 500 inspectors, but you say you're not short any inspectors in the slaughter lines, whatsoever.

Are you short 500 inspectors?

I believe that the schoolchildren who are eating this must know that rules count, that rules matter.

For public safety and public health, we do a recall on this.

The fact is, downer cattle, the reason we have the rules is because downer cattle are more susceptible.

I think what we know is that the company did not call any veterinarian, did not call for veterinarian inspections after that.

If you are there, Mr. Secretary, saying, 'Absolutely, that meat was all okay for everyone to eat,' then I've got to ask, 'Why was it recalled?'

We cannot keep saying these things if we don't really know.

The reason those rules are there is because downer cattle can be sick.

If there was no safety problems, why did we destroy 143 million pounds of beef, Mr. Secretary?

But the fact is, that we don't know if these animals that were portrayed on this video were, indeed, sick or not.

We had to recall 143 million pounds of beef, because we don't really know.

The fact remains, there are rules in place to protect the safety of food.

This incident raises numerous questions that I hope the Department of Agriculture can answer for us today.

Thank you to Chairman Kohl and Ranking Member Bennett for holding this timely hearing on the Hallmark/Westland meat recall.

I appreciate the Senator providing that information. Can she suggest a possible solution that would allow the Mendota refinery to remain open?

I ask the Senator, how has this decrease in California's portion of the national allocation impacted growers and other sugar beet refineries in your State?

No. The provisions explicitly say that they have no effect on whether contracts are considered legal futures contracts or not.

No, this amendment would not infringe on FERC's current ability to gain information from market participants.

This is basically an extension of the Commodity Exchange Act of 2013. I wish to state for the record we would not ordinarily include the Commodity Exchange Act in the farm bill, but for various reasons we were unable to reauthorize the CEA…

Well, I say to my friend, one of the historic uses of eminent domain has been for parks. When was Central Park in New York set aside? The power of eminent domain was for Central Park in New York. I think that has been over a hundred years.

It has been that way, as I say, going back to Gettysburg. They did use eminent domain in Gettysburg.

I say to my friend, again, the amendment doesn't even go to Kelo because my friend admitted a local government could condemn, eminent domain, take private farmland for a private developer. Under his amendment they can still do that.