[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 105 (Thursday, July 28, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9296-S9297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SPECTER (for himself and Mr. Grassley):
  S. 1532. A bill to amend title 18 of the United States Code to 
criminalize acts of agroterrorism, and to enhance the protection of the 
United States agricultural industry and food security through the 
increased prevention, detection, response and recovery planning; to the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I seek recognition today to introduce the 
Agroterrorism Prevention Act of 2005, which would amend Title 18 of the 
United States Code to criminalize acts of agroterrorism, and to enhance 
the protection of the United States agricultural industry and food 
security through increased prevention, detection, response and recovery 
planning.
  Since the events of September 11, 2001, Congress has taken 
substantive actions to protect America and indeed, the world from the 
threat of terrorism. Yet, there is a significant component of the 
United States that is at risk from terrorist attacks, and that is 
American agriculture. The United States agriculture industry accounts 
for 13 percent of the Nation's gross domestic product, makes up 8 
percent of our foreign trade, and accounts for over $192 billion in 
cash receipts. More specifically in Pennsylvania, agriculture is the 
number one industry with over 59,000 farms and ranches producing cash 
receipts exceeding $4 billion annually. Less than 2 percent of the 
American people are considered farmers or ranchers; however, they are 
responsible for feeding 100 percent of the American population. It is 
incumbent upon us in Congress to do everything in our power to ensure 
that the American farmer and rancher, and our Nation's food supply, are 
protected from any act of terrorism.
  During the 108th Congress, I held four forums on the issue of 
agroterrorism and food security at the Pennsylvania Department of 
Agriculture working in conjunction with the PA Secretary of Agriculture 
to address the needs and concerns of Pennsylvania's producers, 
processors, commodity representatives, veterinarians, public health 
officials, university administrators, and local government 
representatives. Collectively, the comments and issues raised at these 
forums provided the impetus to craft this necessary and timely 
legislation.
  This legislation would afford the American farmer, rancher, and the 
United States agriculture industry the protection it deserves. My bill 
would amend Title 18 of the United States Code to criminalize the act 
of agroterrorism, ensuring that we have a legal recourse against 
individuals seeking to disrupt our interstate commerce and foreign 
trade, or who try to coerce our civilian population or government. An 
agroterrist act would be defined as a criminal act that consists of 
causing, financing, or attempting to cause damage or harm to, or 
destruction of, a crop, livestock, raw agricultural commodity, food 
product, farm or ranch equipment, a material, or any other property 
associated with agriculture, or a person engaged in an agricultural 
activity, that is committed to intimidate or coerce a civilian 
population; to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or 
coercion; or to disrupt interstate commerce or foreign commerce of the 
United States agricultural industry. Further, I have included the death 
penalty provision in this legislation to be consistent with existing 
laws concerning acts of terrorism.
  Beyond criminalizing the act of agroterrorism, this legislation would 
provide farmers and ranchers with on-farm bio-security resources; tools 
that reduce the potential for disease outbreaks. Through these 
resources, our farmers and ranchers would be able develop preparedness, 
response and recovery planning techniques. These techniques would 
enable farmers and ranchers to control access to their farms, separate 
animal shipping vehicles from animal feed facilities, and know what 
risks visitors present. Ultimately, the intent of this provision is to 
ensure that our first responders have the information, training, and 
critical infrastructure they need to react aggressively to an incident 
of agroterrorism.
  The impact of globalization affects agriculture in ways that many 
would be unaware. For example, livestock and crop diseases can be 
obtained and disseminated with ever increasing ease. These diseases are 
endemic to other parts of the world and can be extracted from common 
materials, such as soil. Additionally, agricultural inspections at 
ports of entry, the first line of defense against the entry of foreign 
animal and plant diseases, have declined over the last two years at a 
time when imports have increased. Therefore, I have called for the 
Secretaries of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Interior, Health and 
Human Services, the Attorney General, and the Director of National 
Intelligence to coordinate and enhance monitoring, surveillance, and 
intelligence capabilities concerning threats, delivery systems, border 
controls, and actions that could be directed against the agriculture 
sector.

  This legislation would authorize significant grant funding for States 
to establish state and local emergency response plans, information 
management, and to provide training for first responders, in the event 
of an animal or plant disease outbreak. The 2001 foot

[[Page S9297]]

and mouth disease outbreak in England required extensive intervention 
to eradicate and control the spread of disease. Therefore, the question 
remains if our Nation is ready to respond to such an outbreak, whether 
caused by a natural event or an act of terrorism.
  Additionally, this legislation would authorize funding for pilot 
grant demonstrations concerning on-farm bio-security. The majority of 
our Nation's farmers, ranchers, and processors are family owned or 
small businesses, and they need our assistance in strengthening and 
changing their practices to meet the challenges they are facing in this 
war on terror. It is our duty as their representatives to provide the 
tools they need to preserve the American farm and ranch.
  This legislation would ensure that our National Veterinary Stockpile 
contains sufficient amounts of animal vaccine, antiviral, or 
therapeutic products to appropriately respond to the most damaging 
animal diseases affecting human health and the economy. Additionally, 
let us not think that agroterrorism pertains only to animals. A plant 
disease event can impact our agricultural economy as well. Therefore, I 
have included provisions to ensure that our U.S. National Germplasm 
system can respond to such an event with the use of disease-resistant 
seed varieties.
  Compounding the threat of agroterrorism is the fact that the United 
States is currently experiencing a shortage of veterinarians in rural 
agricultural areas. This results in an inability to respond to a 
disease outbreak whether natural or an act of terrorism. In response to 
this decline, this legislation would provide both educational debt 
repayment for veterinarians serving American agriculture during a 
disease outbreak and capacity building grants for colleges and schools 
of veterinary medicine to design higher education training programs in 
exotic animal diseases, epidemiology, and public health.
  The last provision of this legislation would require the Secretaries 
of Homeland Security, Agriculture, HHS, Interior, and the Administrator 
of EPA to submit a report to Congress that describes the feasibility 
and need for modernizing or replacing current federal Biological Level 
3 and Biological Level 4 laboratories responsible for research, 
technology development, diagnostic, and forensic activities on plant 
and animal diseases, including zoonotic diseases. As a nation we cannot 
adequately fight a modern war on terrorism using technology and 
laboratories that have exceeded their capability and useful life span.
  I urge my colleagues to cosponsor and support this legislation, which 
would secure our Nation's most critical infrastructure, our food 
supply. As a nation, we cannot take for granted that our food supply 
will not be susceptible to terrorist activities. The measures called 
for in this legislation would not impose any new regulations on our 
farmers, ranchers, or processors but rather would provide them with the 
tools necessary to counteract agroterrorism. Without question, the time 
has come for concerted action to ensure the protection of American 
agriculture.
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