Joe Pitts: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the recognition, for the privilege to join the important hearing today on H.R. 2012.”

The catfish inspection program is critical to public health.

It is embarrassing that in the most capable country in the world, in the most powerful elected bodies in the world that we effectively have done almost nothing to improve the health care of Americans since this law has been passed.

It seems illogical that the USDA would be given the exclusive authority to oversee and regulate catfish only while the FDA regulates all other seafood.

Both the FDA and the General Accountability Office agree that there is no food safety justification for this regulatory divide.