Food Safety Accountability Act of 2011

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce critical forest legislation for my home State of Oregon.

This is legislation that I introduced in the last Congress. Unfortunately, despite making significant progress and gaining the support of the administration, my legislation did not get passed before Congress adjourned. But the need remains as great as ever and it remains one of the top priorities for my State. So today, early in this new Congress, I am reintroducing the bill and sending the message that this urgent priority needs to get done.

I am pleased that my colleague from Oregon, Senator Merkley, has joined me today in introducing this bill. Like me, he recognizes the severe needs in our forests and in the forest dependent communities.

For too many decades, Oregon has been at war with itself over the fate of its forests. Nowhere has the negative impact of this battle been greater than in Oregon's eastside forests.

Over-logging and disastrous fire suppression policies of the past gave way over time to excessive litigation and gridlock.

That excessive litigation and gridlock has resulted in millions of acres of Oregon's Federal forest landscape containing choked, overstocked stands that are at great risk of uncharacteristic catastrophic fires, insect infestations and disease.

Controversial logging that holds the industry and the environment hostage to competing ideologies serves no one's interest. The focus should be on areas that everyone agrees desperately need management: to thin and restore our forests and watersheds, and to reduce hazardous fuels putting our forests at risk.

That is why I introduced legislation in the last Congress to begin to tackle the challenges facing Oregon's Eastside forests.

Leaders on both sides of these difficult issues came together with me after intense negotiations to bring peace, jobs, and a healthier tomorrow to the 8.3 million acres on the 6 Federal forests in eastern and central Oregon.

Those leaders realized that each side had armed itself politically enough to survive, but not enough to succeed.

With each passing month and each attempted timber sale and threatened lawsuit, our inability to take action, our inability to address the needs of Oregon's declining forests means that they are growing more at risk of preventable fire and disease.

Leaders on both sides of this issue realized that unless something fundamental changes, Oregon's Federal forest landscape, with millions of acres of choked, at-risk forest in desperate need of management, millions of acres of old growth, species habitat, and watersheds face an uncertain future.

Timber executives came together with leaders of the Oregon environmental community to take shared responsibility for saving our endangered forests, following months of intense negotiations to reach an agreement on legislation.

Since my bill was introduced in the last Congress, there have been continuing discussions and negotiations as my stakeholders and I have worked with the Administration and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to get the bill ready for passage in the Senate. Today's bill reflects some of those changes, but it preserves the core elements of the agreement that I crafted with the stakeholders to this agreement--a push to increase the timber produced from our national forests, landscape scale restoration efforts and protections for watersheds and old growth.

Today in eastern Oregon we are down to only a small handful of surviving mills. Without far greater certainty of supply and an immediate increase in merchantable timber, more mills will close.

If that happens, our Eastside forests will pay the price.

Without mills to process saw logs and other merchantable material from forest restoration projects, there will be no restoration of our Eastside forests.

Fortunately leaders on both sides of this issue recognize that and that is why they set aside their differences to forge an agreement.

Job One must be saving the remaining infrastructure of forestry-- Oregon's mills and its timber workers--in central and eastern Oregon while preserving our old growth and watersheds.

My stakeholders and I worked very hard on the agreement and to advance this legislation. As I predicted, we have already seen our share of challenges. But I have great faith that we will stand firm to see this legislation implemented.

I am not going to let Congressional gridlock stop the historic progress that has been made on forestry issues in Oregon. This issue is simply too important.

I also want to point out that none of our efforts will succeed unless Oregon Federal forests are also adequately funded to properly manage and restore these valuable Federal assets.

Together, as a team, we will fight for the funding to put our people back to work and restore the health of our forests.

I want to thank my stakeholders for their support and tireless work in crafting this agreement and ultimately in working with me through the legislative process.

I am proud to introduce this legislation today, and I am going to keep working with all the folks in my State who are willing to talk in good faith about restoring our eastside forests.

Mr. President, today, I am pleased to introduce legislation to hold criminals who poison our food supply accountable for their crimes. This is an issue that received considerable attention last year, and I was pleased that the Congress finally passed comprehensive food safety reforms. But our work is not done. The Food Safety Accountability Act increases the sentences that prosecutors can seek for people who violate our food safety laws in those cases where there is conscious or reckless disregard of a risk of death or serious bodily injury. The legislation I propose will allow law enforcement to seek sentences of up to 10 years in jail for those who contaminate our food supply with the intent to mislead or defraud consumers, and endanger Americans.

Last year, I introduced similar legislation which received unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee. I hope the Judiciary Committee, and the full Senate, will give it the same consideration this year. I'd like to thank Senator Klobuchar and Senator Franken for their ongoing support of the bill. Senator Sessions, Senator Hatch, Senator Coburn, and Senator Grassley had concerns about its breadth, and we were able to work together to address these concerns in the legislation I introduce today.

Just last summer, a salmonella outbreak caused hundreds of people to fall ill and triggered a national egg recall. The company responsible for the eggs at the root of this summer's salmonella crisis had a long history of environmental, immigration, labor, and food safety violations. It is clear that fines are not enough to protect the public and effectively deter this unacceptable conduct. We need to make sure that those who intentionally poison the food supply will go to jail. The Food Safety Accountability Act will help to do that in the most egregious cases.

Current statutes do not provide sufficient criminal sanctions for those who violate our food safety laws with the intent to mislead or defraud. Doing so is already illegal, but it is merely a misdemeanor right now, and the Sentencing Commission has found that it generally does not result in jail time. The fines and recalls that usually result from criminal violations under current law fall short in protecting the public from harmful products. Too often, those who are willing to endanger our children in pursuit of profits view such fines or recalls as merely the cost of doing business.

In the last Congress, a mother from Vermont, Gabrielle Meunier, testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee about her seven-year- old son, Christopher, who became severely ill and was hospitalized for six days after he developed salmonella poisoning from peanut crackers. Thankfully, Christopher recovered, but Mrs. Meunier's story highlighted improvements that are needed in our food safety system. No parent should have to go through what she experienced. The American people should be confident that the food they buy for their families is safe.

After hearing Mrs. Meunier's account, I called on the Department of Justice to conduct a criminal investigation into the outbreak of salmonella that made Christopher and many others so sick. These products were linked to the deaths of nine people and have sickened more than 600 others. It appears that the company responsible knew that their peanut products had tested positive for deadly salmonella, but rather than immediately disposing of the products, the company sought ways to sell them anyway. The evidence suggests that the public was misled, and that the company put profit above the public's safety. The Food Safety Accountability Act increases the chances that those who disregard the safety of Americans and commit food safety crimes will face jail time, rather than merely a slap on the wrist, for their criminal conduct.

On behalf of the hundreds of individuals sickened by recent salmonella outbreaks, I hope Senators of both parties will act swiftly to pass this bill. We have come a long way, but must continue to be diligent to ensure that our food safety system is strong. The Justice Department must be given the tools it needs to investigate and prosecute crime involving food safety, and we must work together, from farm to

fork, to improve the safety of food in this country.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, today, I am pleased to introduce legislation to hold criminals who poison our food supply accountable for their crimes. This is an issue that received considerable attention last year, and I was pleased that the Congress finally passed comprehensive food safety reforms. But our work is not done. The Food Safety Accountability Act increases the sentences that prosecutors can seek for people who violate our food safety laws in those cases where there is conscious or reckless disregard of a risk of death or serious bodily injury. The legislation I propose will allow law enforcement to seek sentences of up to 10 years in jail for those who contaminate our food supply with the intent to mislead or defraud consumers, and endanger Americans.

Last year, I introduced similar legislation which received unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee. I hope the Judiciary Committee, and the full Senate, will give it the same consideration this year. I'd like to thank Senator Klobuchar and Senator Franken for their ongoing support of the bill. Senator Sessions, Senator Hatch, Senator Coburn, and Senator Grassley had concerns about its breadth, and we were able to work together to address these concerns in the legislation I introduce today.

Just last summer, a salmonella outbreak caused hundreds of people to fall ill and triggered a national egg recall. The company responsible for the eggs at the root of this summer's salmonella crisis had a long history of environmental, immigration, labor, and food safety violations. It is clear that fines are not enough to protect the public and effectively deter this unacceptable conduct. We need to make sure that those who intentionally poison the food supply will go to jail. The Food Safety Accountability Act will help to do that in the most egregious cases.

Current statutes do not provide sufficient criminal sanctions for those who violate our food safety laws with the intent to mislead or defraud. Doing so is already illegal, but it is merely a misdemeanor right now, and the Sentencing Commission has found that it generally does not result in jail time. The fines and recalls that usually result from criminal violations under current law fall short in protecting the public from harmful products. Too often, those who are willing to endanger our children in pursuit of profits view such fines or recalls as merely the cost of doing business.

In the last Congress, a mother from Vermont, Gabrielle Meunier, testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee about her seven-year- old son, Christopher, who became severely ill and was hospitalized for six days after he developed salmonella poisoning from peanut crackers. Thankfully, Christopher recovered, but Mrs. Meunier's story highlighted improvements that are needed in our food safety system. No parent should have to go through what she experienced. The American people should be confident that the food they buy for their families is safe.

After hearing Mrs. Meunier's account, I called on the Department of Justice to conduct a criminal investigation into the outbreak of salmonella that made Christopher and many others so sick. These products were linked to the deaths of nine people and have sickened more than 600 others. It appears that the company responsible knew that their peanut products had tested positive for deadly salmonella, but rather than immediately disposing of the products, the company sought ways to sell them anyway. The evidence suggests that the public was misled, and that the company put profit above the public's safety. The Food Safety Accountability Act increases the chances that those who disregard the safety of Americans and commit food safety crimes will face jail time, rather than merely a slap on the wrist, for their criminal conduct.

On behalf of the hundreds of individuals sickened by recent salmonella outbreaks, I hope Senators of both parties will act swiftly to pass this bill. We have come a long way, but must continue to be diligent to ensure that our food safety system is strong. The Justice Department must be given the tools it needs to investigate and prosecute crime involving food safety, and we must work together, from farm to

fork, to improve the safety of food in this country.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, today, the Senate will pass the Food Safety Accountability Act, an important bill to hold criminals who poison our food supply accountable for their crimes. I would like to thank Senators Klobuchar, Franken, Durbin, Feinstein, Kohl, and Blumenthal for their support. Senators Hatch, Sessions, Coburn, and Grassley had concerns about the breadth of the bill, and we were able to work together to address those concerns. The bill received unanimous, bipartisan support when it was reported out of the Judiciary Committee, and I am pleased that it has now received similar support from the Senate. I urge the House to quickly take up the Senate bill and join us in taking this important step toward protecting our food supply.

The Food Safety Accountability Act increases the sentences that prosecutors can seek for people who violate our food safety laws in those cases where there is conscious or reckless disregard of a risk of death or serious bodily injury. Last summer, a salmonella outbreak caused hundreds of people to fall ill and triggered a national egg recall. The cause of the outbreak is still under investigation, but salmonella poisoning is all too common and sometimes results from inexcusable knowing conduct like that carefully targeted by the Food Safety Accountability Act.

In the last Congress, a mother from Vermont, Gabrielle Meunier, testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee about her 7-year-old son, Christopher, who became severely ill and was hospitalized for 6 days after he developed salmonella poisoning from peanut crackers 2 years ago. Thankfully, Christopher recovered, but Mrs. Meunier's story highlighted improvements that are needed in our food safety system. No parent should have to go through what Mrs. Meunier experienced. The American people should be confident that the food they buy for their families is safe.

Current statutes do not provide sufficient criminal sanctions for those who knowingly violate our food safety laws. Knowingly distributing adulterated food is already illegal, but it is merely a misdemeanor right now, and the Sentencing Commission has found that it generally does not result in jail time. The fines and recalls that usually result from criminal violations under current law fall short in protecting the public from harmful products. Too often, those who are willing to endanger our children in pursuit of profits view such fines or recalls as merely the cost of doing business.

The company responsible for the eggs at the root of the last summer's salmonella crisis has a long history of environmental, immigration, labor, and food safety violations. It is clear that fines are not enough to protect the public and effectively deter this unacceptable conduct. We need to make sure that those who knowingly poison the food supply will go to jail. This bill will help to do that. This bill significantly increases the chances that those who commit food safety crimes will face jail time, rather than a slap on the wrist, for their criminal conduct.

Food safety received considerable attention last year, and I was pleased that Congress finally passed comprehensive food safety reforms. But our work is not done. On behalf of the hundreds of individuals sickened by recent salmonella outbreaks, I urge the House to quickly pass the Food Safety Accountability Act and join the Senate in continuing to improve our food safety system.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 21, S. 216.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.