Chris Smith

I wish we could. I really wish they were trading partners rather than adversaries, as they are around the world, particularly in Africa.

So if it happens in this realm, I don't know why it wouldn't happen in the food or the pet realm where there are huge profits to be made if you can cut corners, and corruption obviously moves higher in dictatorships than it does when you…

I'm sure the records were great. That stuff was showing up all over in the United States. Jellies shoes were big for little girls at the time.

If you hear of something, if you could let us know because it would be nice to know what happens to that person. Do they get prosecuted, taken out in the back and put into a van? Because again, this is a dictatorship. I can't stress that…

Well, I raise this in part because even when we were talking about groups like Apple Computer, auditors were paid to falsify and then to give a clean bill of health to the corporation that everything's just fine, gulag labor, slave labor…

How many inspectors and personnel are dedicated to these Chinese products? How many people are we talking about?

Could the records be falsified that they get to look at?

So if there is some compelling information, we don't have people either in the Embassy who will be mobilized immediately to go check this out?

When you do an audit, what kind of access do we have to the plant or the processing facility?

I have found very few instances in my 44 years as a Member of Congress where I took on face value just about anything the government said.

I want to thank Chris D'Urso for bringing this last issue to my attention.

U.S. trade policy must put health and safety of U.S. consumers and their pets as its top priority.

I urge our FDA and USDA to continue devoting every effort in determining the cause of the pet illnesses and PEDv.

I urge the Chinese Government to fully cooperate with our agencies and to make significant improvements in their food safety system.

Finally, I would also urge us in Congress to consider whether we need to update our labeling requirements to take into account an increasingly globalized marketplace and to ensure the public health of our citizens.

I urge companies to ensure the highest safety standards and to put pet and human safety first.

In the meantime, I would urge the Chinese government to fully cooperate with our agencies and to make significant improvements in their food safety system.

Safety before profits is the message that has to be sent to producers, processors, and manufacturers.

Mr. Gohmert, thank you for your trip there and your concern, which has been throughout your entire career for human rights in general, but also for religious freedom. This is a serious assault on religious freedom, forced Islamization…

It seems to me this is something that could be done very easily because those families are left to fend for themselves.

The trauma counseling that you have called for I think is extraordinarily important.

We are dealing with bloodthirsty people who have been enabled and empowered to do more rather than less killing.

The election is serving as an acceleration phase for more terrorism.

Put those resources toward the families; get them the kind of help, particularly psychologically, that they are so much in need of.

I think we have an opportunity here to capitalize on that changing tide that has happened on the ground and really come in with some fundamental development tools.