Farr defends $25 million disaster relief for spinach producers
Farr defends $25 million disaster relief for spinach producers
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep Sam Farr (D-CA) defended a move to attach $25 million for financially strapped spinach producers to an emergency spending bill for the four-year-old Iraqi war.
The House of Representatives passed the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill March 23 with $25 million that would help spinach producers nationwide who were hurt by the voluntary recall after the E. coli O157 outbreak in 2006 that sickened more than 200 people and resulted in three deaths.
But the money is far from assured. The House-passed emergency spending bill sets a 2008 deadline for troop withdrawal from the Iraqi war, and President Bush has vowed to veto it.
"Growers who had nothing to do with the E. coli contamination lost tens of millions of dollars, and some were brought to the edge of bankruptcy, but they did not hesitate to respond voluntarily to the recall requested by the Food & Drug Administration," Rep. Farr said in a March 28 letter to the Washington Post. The newspaper had attacked the funding amendments as wasteful.
"As a consequence of their voluntary action, their losses were not covered by insurance, and they have no other recourse," he said. "No company should ever think twice about complying with a public health recall issued by the government, voluntarily or not. So, yes, I think the government has an obligation to try to protect those growers from going under."
The bill has been criticized for being laden with $4 billion in disaster aid for U.S. agricultural producers. Farm groups said they have been unsuccessful in retrieving weather-related disaster aid for the past two years.
"Disaster assistance for spinach growers should not be any less important than for those impacted by floods, hurricanes, freezes or droughts," said Robert Guenther, senior vice president of public policy for United Fresh Produce Association. "It is a shame that questions are being raised and that spinach growers across this country, who had nothing to do with the outbreak, are being vilified for doing the right thing in a time of crisis."
In the Senate, the bill includes a $4 billion agricultural relief package that would help California dairy producers who lost cattle in the 2006 heat wave and growers who lost crops in the January freeze.
"Governor Schwarzenegger recently certified, through March 13, a loss from the freeze of $1.397 billion," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said in defending disaster aid on the Senate floor. "And total damages have yet to be figured."
So far, she said, there has been $817 million in damage to California's citrus crops: lemons, limes, mandarins, grapefruit, Navel oranges and Valencias. Citrus growers are pushing for $40 million in the Senate version of the funding bill.
The Senate bill is not expected to include the $25 million for spinach producers, according to a Capitol Hill aide, but the money will be on the table when both spending bills are debated in conference committee.
The spinach amendment mirrors language in Rep. Farr's bill, H.R. 912, which also included $26 million for federal agencies to dole out for produce safety research. The congressman plans to push for the research funds in the coming months as a member of the Appropriations Committee that funds food-safety programs.
The House of Representatives passed the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill March 23 with $25 million that would help spinach producers nationwide who were hurt by the voluntary recall after the E. coli O157 outbreak in 2006 that sickened more than 200 people and resulted in three deaths.
But the money is far from assured. The House-passed emergency spending bill sets a 2008 deadline for troop withdrawal from the Iraqi war, and President Bush has vowed to veto it.
"Growers who had nothing to do with the E. coli contamination lost tens of millions of dollars, and some were brought to the edge of bankruptcy, but they did not hesitate to respond voluntarily to the recall requested by the Food & Drug Administration," Rep. Farr said in a March 28 letter to the Washington Post. The newspaper had attacked the funding amendments as wasteful.
"As a consequence of their voluntary action, their losses were not covered by insurance, and they have no other recourse," he said. "No company should ever think twice about complying with a public health recall issued by the government, voluntarily or not. So, yes, I think the government has an obligation to try to protect those growers from going under."
The bill has been criticized for being laden with $4 billion in disaster aid for U.S. agricultural producers. Farm groups said they have been unsuccessful in retrieving weather-related disaster aid for the past two years.
"Disaster assistance for spinach growers should not be any less important than for those impacted by floods, hurricanes, freezes or droughts," said Robert Guenther, senior vice president of public policy for United Fresh Produce Association. "It is a shame that questions are being raised and that spinach growers across this country, who had nothing to do with the outbreak, are being vilified for doing the right thing in a time of crisis."
In the Senate, the bill includes a $4 billion agricultural relief package that would help California dairy producers who lost cattle in the 2006 heat wave and growers who lost crops in the January freeze.
"Governor Schwarzenegger recently certified, through March 13, a loss from the freeze of $1.397 billion," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said in defending disaster aid on the Senate floor. "And total damages have yet to be figured."
So far, she said, there has been $817 million in damage to California's citrus crops: lemons, limes, mandarins, grapefruit, Navel oranges and Valencias. Citrus growers are pushing for $40 million in the Senate version of the funding bill.
The Senate bill is not expected to include the $25 million for spinach producers, according to a Capitol Hill aide, but the money will be on the table when both spending bills are debated in conference committee.
The spinach amendment mirrors language in Rep. Farr's bill, H.R. 912, which also included $26 million for federal agencies to dole out for produce safety research. The congressman plans to push for the research funds in the coming months as a member of the Appropriations Committee that funds food-safety programs.
