Senator Chuck Grassley made the following statement after an amendment to transfer $55 million in existing agriculture funds to the Food Safety Inspection Service in order to keep food inspectors from being furloughed passed the Senate by voice vote. Grassley has led the effort questioning the administration’s actions to furlough meat and poultry inspectors. His letter and comments can be found here.
“It seems pretty clear that the Department of Agriculture is not doing everything possible to avoid something as drastic as furloughing meat and poultry product inspectors, and has failed to follow the OMB directive on the sequester, which unfortunately made this amendment necessary. Given the uncertainty USDA has created with its rhetoric about furloughs, this amendment allowed Congress to give certainty back to farmers, consumers, and workers in the meat and poultry products industry.”
