Portion of Floor Statement by Senator John McCain On 2012 Farm Bill and USDA Catfish Program

 “Finally, Mr. President, there’s catfish. 

“I have filed an amendment (#2199) which would repeal a Farm Bill provision that directs USDA to create a new Catfish Inspection Office. I’m grateful for the support of my colleagues who’ve cosponsored this amendment: Senators Kerry, Ayotte, Shaheen, Coburn, Crapo, Bill Nelson, Enzi, Risch, Cantwell, Kirk, Inhofe, Whitehouse, and Cardin.

“What we’re attempting to do with this amendment is simple. This amendment puts an end to the latest attempt by southern catfish farmers to restrict catfish imports. Five years ago, a protectionist provision was snuck into the 2008 Farm Bill that requires USDA to begin inspecting catfish. As my colleagues know, USDA inspects meat, eggs, and poultry, but not seafood. Thus, a whole new government office is being developed at USDA just to inspect catfish. Catfish farmers have tried to argue that we need a Catfish Inspection Office to ensure Americans are eating safe and healthy catfish. I wholeheartedly agree that catfish should be safe for consumers. The problem is FDA already inspects catfish – just like it does ALL seafood – screening it for biological and chemical hazards. If there were legitimate food safety reasons for having USDA inspect catfish, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Don’t take my word for it – just ask USDA. When USDA completed an internal assessment for the program in December 2010, the Department said it could not establish a ‘rational relationship’ between the Catfish Office and the risks to human health concluding, ‘There is substantial uncertainty regarding the actual effectiveness of the catfish inspection program.’ The Department of Agriculture estimates that this questionable program will come at a cost to taxpayers: $30 million just to create the office and another $14 million each year thereafter. 

“The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has also extensively examined the Catfish Office. In February 2011, GAO released a report saying the Catfish Office is at ‘high risk’ for fraud waste and abuse and that it’s ‘duplicative’ of FDA’s functions and would fragment our food safety system. Just last week, GAO issued a new report simply titled ‘Responsibly For Inspecting Catfish Should Not Be Assigned to USDA’ and called upon Congress to repeal the Catfish Office.   

“This isn’t the first time consumers have been hoodwinked by southern catfish farmers. When the Senate considered the 2002 Farm Bill, they slipped in an obscure provision that made it illegal to label Vietnamese catfish as ‘catfish’ in the United States. At that time, the State Department had recently reopened trade relations with Vietnam, and domestic catfish farmers in southern states found themselves competing against cheaper catfish imports. Domestic catfish farmers wanted to discourage American consumers from buying Vietnamese catfish by marketing it under its Latin name pangasius or “panga” even though it’s virtually indistinguishable from U.S.-grown catfish.  

“Although the panga labeling law was enacted, it ultimately backfired on catfish farmers. Panga catfish remained popular with American consumers because it’s more affordable and tastes just as good as southern catfish. It is, after all, catfish. It was a senseless law, and my colleagues may recall that I came to the floor to fight against it. I asked the question: ‘when is a catfish not a catfish?’ Why would Congress pass a law that renames a species of catfish into something else? Now I find myself asking my colleagues to explain: when is a catfish a cow? Why would we single out catfish and put it in the same category as USDA-inspected beef? Ironically, catfish farmers are lobbying USDA to re-re-label Vietnamese ‘panga’ back to ‘catfish’ to ensure Asian imports are subject to this new USDA Catfish Office. 

“There are grave trade implications if we don’t repeal the catfish program. Trade experts warn that Vietnam, the largest exporter of catfish, has an extremely persuasive case that establishing this Catfish Office would constitute a WTO violation. The WTO allows members to set their food safety standards so long as such standards are based on sound science and do not result in unjustified trade restrictions. Well, USDA and GAO already said there’s no scientific basis for the office, and USDA warns that the 2008 Farm Bill would require them to ban catfish imports until foreign countries establish ‘equivalency requirements’ which could take 5 to 7 years to complete. Asian catfish importers have signaled that a 5 to 7 year ban on catfish is a free trade violation, putting our $20 billion U.S. export market in Vietnam and China at risk of WTO retaliation. Is it worth sacrificing the export markets of our American beef producers and wheat and vegetable farmers just to protect a southern catfish industry that doesn’t want to compete? Absolutely not. 

“This Catfish Office offers no legitimate food safety benefit. Its true goal is to erect trade barriers on Asian catfish imports to prop up the domestic catfish industry and make American consumers pay more for their catfish. It is time to put this issue to rest once and for all by passing my amendment.

“Therefore, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed to S. 3240 (Farm Bill) and that McCain Amendment #2199 be made pending.”

Sen. John McCain fights wasteful, duplicative USDA catfish inspection program: 

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