Jon Tester: “I very much appreciate the opportunity now that this important legislation is shaping up to be a much better bill with…”

“I very much appreciate the opportunity now that this important legislation is shaping up to be a much better bill with the inclusion of my amendment for family-scale producers. It protects the jobs of family farmers and ranchers and processors. It is time to get this bill passed and strengthen food safety for all Americans. There is little disagreement that the necessity of this bill is real. If you take a look at the impacts of recent E. coli outbreaks, of salmonella and those kinds of foodborne diseases out there, it is absolutely critical we get this bill passed. I had some concerns with this bill as it was originally introduced, on its impacts to family-sized growers and processors. The fact of the matter is, these are folks who help build this country, and undue regulation on them--and I do believe it would be undue regulation--would simply stop a movement in this country that has gone on since this country's inception, but more recently we have gone back to it with locally produced foods. It is critically important my amendment be part of this bill.”