Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to talk about an issue important to us all--the safety of our food. Food safety is not a partisan issue--we all want to be confident that the food we eat and give to our children will not make us sick. That is why I have been working with my colleagues in a bipartisan way to pass S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. This bill goes a long way to bringing the regulation of food into the 21st century. No longer will outdated laws hold the FDA back from protecting us. This bill takes into account the changes in our food supply over the more than 100 years since food safety authorities were first granted to the agency. This bill provides real consumer safety improvements, while maintaining an appropriate balance between regulatory burden and food safety benefit. I want to thank Senators Gregg, Burr, and Durbin for their hard work and leadership in developing and introducing this bill. Their efforts to ensure that this was a bipartisan process, starting from a blank piece of paper, were critical to seeing this bill move. I also commend Senator Harkin, the chairman of the HELP Committee, for prioritizing this bill and moving it through committee. We, along with Senator Dodd, have continued to work together over the last few months, which resulted in only a few issues remaining to debate on the floor. That kind of cooperation is what the American people expect of us.…”