Political Quotes

“it seems there are only two speakers. So perhaps we will be able to finish this discussion by the top of the hour. Last week, the Senate appropriated a large sum of money to fight the threat of the Zika virus. We are going to spend, together with what was already available and what was appropriated last week, at least $1 billion fighting this Zika threat and probably $2 billion, and rightly so because Zika is a potential health threat to Americans. We believe it is money well spent to prevent more serious diseases and more serious afflictions to Americans. Yet we have in place today a USDA program that is protecting Americans against 175,000 cases of cancer, according to USDA documents. It is protecting Americans against 91 million exposures to antimicrobials. This USDA catfish inspection program that is under threat this morning is protecting Americans from some 23.3 million exposures to heavy metals, and yet this program cost the taxpayers, in the Department of Agriculture, only $1.1 million a year. Compared to the $1 billion or $2 billion we are going to spend on Zika, a relatively small $1.1 million a year is protecting Americans against contaminated foreign catfish coming in from overseas. We have been inspecting imported fish for quite a while in the United States of America. Under the old procedure, the Food and Drug Administration inspected imported catfish. There was a problem.…”