David Obey: “Mr. Speaker, I come from a district that has a lot of farmers. I come from a district that has a lot of small towns. I…”

“Mr. Speaker, I come from a district that has a lot of farmers. I come from a district that has a lot of small towns. I also come from a district that has had direct recent experience with E. coli. In my hometown just this weekend, for instance, we had another case of E. coli break out. I think that drives home to everyone, whether you work on a farm or you work in the city, the seriousness of the issue that will be debated when this bill eventually reaches the floor. I would say simply that I would like to see some middle ground on this. I understand the reasons why the gentleman from New York [Mr. Walsh] offered the amendment, because anybody who represents small businesses, and I have an awful lot of them in my district, you are bound to be concerned about the impact of any rule and any rulemaking process on small business. I am also concerned, however, because I think that our committee frankly is not the right forum in which this issue ought to be discussed. This issue ought to be dealt with by the Committee on Agriculture.”