Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I just want to show my colleagues the difference. One of the motions we will vote on on suspending the rules tomorrow is, here is S. 510, 280 pages of new rules and new regulations. Here is the alternative, which is one-sixth of that. This one costs $1.4 billion in direct costs, $400 billion in food increased costs, and $141 million in mandatory new spending, mandates to the States. This one does none of that. What does this bill do? This bill uses common sense to say what really controls our food safety. Our food safety is controlled by market forces more than anything. And if you look at our history on foodborne contamination, we are by far the safest in the world, and our rates have been coming down since 1996. Over the last 14 years, our rates have come down in terms of foodborne illnesses. I am not fighting against food safety; I am fighting for common sense. What we see in the bill we are going to vote on versus the alternative which I am going to offer is one builds and grows the government, one raises the cost of government, and ultimately we will be taxed to pay for that. One raises the price of food and one puts unfunded mandates on the States. I am saying that we can accomplish exactly the same goal as my chairman, the Senator from Iowa, would like to accomplish without 280 pages of new rules and regulations. So what do we do? We require the FDA and the USDA to immediately establish a comprehensive plan to share their data.…”