[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 207 (Friday, December 22, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S19195-S19197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am wondering if I could ask the indulgence 
of the Members of the Senate. I know how important this legislation is, 
but Senator Brown and I would ask unanimous consent that we be allowed 
to go to morning business for an extremely short period of time to 
introduce legislation. We will make our statements part of the Record.
  So I ask unanimous consent that we be allowed to go to morning 
business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  
[[Page S19196]]


                          BOARD OF TEA EXPERTS

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I will be extremely brief.
  Earlier this year, on the agricultural appropriations bill, Senator 
Reid and I offered legislation that would defund the Tea Tasting Board, 
and I offered an amendment that would eliminate the underlying 
legislation that passed in 1879.
  Literally, we spend a quarter million dollars a year of taxpayers' 
money on tasting tea, a practice that is designed to restrict 
competition.
  Tragically, when that measure got to conference, the conferees were 
advised that the Food and Drug Administration would lose their ability 
to stop poisonous substances coming into the country in the form of tea 
if we did not have a Tea Tasting Board. That information is incorrect. 
The advice they gave the conferees is incorrect.
  So we intend to, at the appropriate point when the continuing 
resolution comes forward, to offer an amendment that does what the 
Senate did earlier, and that is eliminate the Tea Tasting Board.
  Mr. President, it is important because this is a clear waste and a 
clear obstruction of competition in this country. It is a drag upon our 
efficiency, and it is the signpost of the kind of changes we need to 
make to get our country back on track.
  That is the reason we think it is appropriate to offer it on the 
continuing resolution.
  I yield to my distinguished colleague from Nevada.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, 2 years ago I stood on this floor and 
offered an amendment to the 1993 Agriculture Appropriations bill.
  My efforts were successful and the measure passed. The intent of my 
measure was to eliminate the Board of Tea Experts. To my chagrin, in 
recent months I discovered that the tea experts were still in business. 
In mid-September of this year I returned to the floor with Senator 
Brown to once again eliminate the Tea Board and abolish the Tea Import 
Act. Well, here we are again. Why?, because it seems that the 
Agriculture appropriation conferees did not see their way clear and 
abolish the act.
  That is why Senator Brown and I have returned to the floor to offer 
this amendment calling for an end to the Tea Importation Act. Why, I 
have been told that the Department of Agriculture informed the 
conference committee that the act was needed to ensure safe, healthy 
tea. What this program has is somewhat akin to the fictional creature, 
Count Dracula. I have come here with Senator Brown to once again 
attempt to rid this Government of this scourge. I ask unanimous consent 
to have printed in the Record this article from the December 15 
business section of the Washington Post that clearly outlines this 
problem.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               (From the Washington Post, Feb. 15, 1995)

             The FDA's Tea Party Lives On. And On. And On.

                          (By Cindy Skrzycki)

       The tempest in the teapot still brews. Despite the efforts 
     of Sens. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Hank Brown (R-Colo.) to 
     dump a government-sponsored tea-tasting program, last-minute 
     lobbying and legislative maneuvering has kept the Food and 
     Drug Administration in the business of fine tea and good 
     china.
       Just when it looked like the FDA could wash its hands of 
     the 98-year-old Tea Importation Act and its Board of Tea 
     Experts, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate 
     Agriculture Appropriations Committee, quietly decided to kill 
     the part of the Reid-Brown amendment that would have cut 
     FDA's involvement with the board.
       The result is that the FDA, long-criticized for its tea-
     tasting sessions, actually may have a more complicated role 
     to play as it figures out how to comply with the part of the 
     amendment that did pass.
       As things now stand, the Tea Importation Act--which charges 
     the FDA with making sure imported tea meets a government-
     endorsed standard of quality and purity--remains in force. 
     What changes is the FDA's involvement in setting the standard 
     since an FDA employee will no longer be allowed to sit on the 
     six-member Board of Tea Experts.
       The problem is, the agency still has to figure out a way to 
     come up with the annual tea standard--without being 
     involved--so that its longtime employee (a man reknowned 
     for distinguishing fine tea from foul brews) can carry out 
     the day-to-day tasting of imported tea, making sure it 
     meets the standard.
       Complicated? Yes, But, hey, this is the government.
       So much for victory proclamation that Reid and Brown 
     happily offered in September when the Senate passed their 
     amendment. The conference on the legislation--and the 
     lobbying--wiped out Reid's wish ``to end this tea party.''
       The tea leaves aren't clear on this, but the brew's lobby 
     apparently did a good job of preserving FDA's tea-tasting 
     role. The industry has maintained through numerous attempts 
     to abolish the board that it was necessary to have the 
     $200,000 government program to keep bad tea out of the 
     country.
       Congress not long ago eliminated the board's modest travel 
     subsidies for its annual meeting at FDA offices in New York. 
     It also raised the tax on imported tea to pay for the 
     salaries of the FDA employees involved in setting the 
     standard and tasting the tea to make sure imports adhered to 
     the standard.
       The current standard expires May 1, so the FDA has to come 
     up with a way to set a new measure. Like any good government 
     agency, it has convened a ``small working group'' to figure 
     this out.
       Among the options the group is considering: disallowing tea 
     imports altogether, maintaining the current standard 
     indefinitely, turning the standard-setting over to some other 
     department within the Department of Health and Human 
     Services. Or, the more likely scenario, proposing a standard 
     in the Federal Register and asking for comments on it.
       ``You've now finding out what perpetual life is,'' said 
     Brown. ``It's such a disgrace.''
       Anyone for tea?

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we do not have a coffee tasting board, why a 
tea testing board?
  According to an FDA spokesman this Congress is sending mixed signals 
regarding tea tasting.
  According to an FDA spokesman ``the law doesn't say we should not 
have a tea taster at FDA.''
  According to an article in the Review-Journal, the largest newspaper 
in Nevada, the Board of Tea Experts is funded by the tea industry. 
However, its members work closely with FDA chemist Robert H. Dick to 
set standards for imported tea.
  Mr. Dick who has chaired the tea board for 56 years, is paid $68,000 
per year. He also has two part-time assistants, all of whom are 
taxpayer supported.
  Mr. President, the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the 
Agriculture Appropriations Committee, has done a diservice to the 
American people. It is no wonder the American people have lost faith in 
their government. I see no reason why those in this country who enjoy 
drinking tea need someone else to tell them it tastes good. Once again 
I am back on the floor to complete the task that I originally set out 
to do.
  Mr. President, once again let me give the Senate some background on 
the Board of Tea Experts.
  The Tea Expert Board was created as part of the Tea Import Act of 
1897. You heard me correctly, 1897, not 1987.
  There are six outside experts and one from the Food and Drug 
Administration [FDA] that comprise the Board. It is the Board of Tea 
Experts duty to set standards for imported tea. There is also others at 
the FDA that also as part of their official duties, taste tea.
  The cost of this program is approximately $200,000 per year; even 
though there is an industry offset of approximately $70,000 per year.
  Although, the fiscal year 1996 Agriculture appropriations bill 
withholds funds to operate the Board of Tea Experts, it does not repeal 
the act as the Senate unanimously agreed to do. Even so, the adventures 
of the Board of Tea Experts still cost the American taxpayer over 
$130,000 per year. That may not seem like much, but it is the kind of 
waste that taxpayers detest.
  We do not have a board of coffee experts, why then, do we need a 
Board of Tea Experts. The Board of Tea Experts only serves industry. 
Let the industry serve itself, and pay for its own quality assurance 
out of its own pockets. It is not my intent to have the FDA to stop 
testing imported agricultural products. These activities can continue 
without the Board of Tea Experts and without Mr. Dicks or the FDA's 
involvement.
  As I have stated on the floor before, What we need is a congressional 
tea party. We must dump the Board of Tea Experts as well as the Tea 
Importation Act overboard.
  It seems inappropriate, and some might say morally reprehensible, to 
expend money from the Treasury for such a program.
  How can this reform minded Congress allow the Tea Importation Act to 
continue? 

[[Page S19197]]

  Mr. LOTT addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.

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