[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18250]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           PASSAGE OF S. 510

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today with the passage of the Food Safety 
Modernization Act by this overwhelming vote of 73 to 25, we have taken 
momentous steps to help strengthen food safety in America. The Food 
Safety Modernization Act will bring America's food safety system into 
the 21st century.
  This bill gives the FDA the authority the agency needs to help 
protect America from foodborne illnesses. While this bill is a historic 
step forward in ensuring that our food supply is safe and protecting 
Americans from foodborne illnesses, we have to now ensure that the FDA 
has adequate resources to fulfill their profound responsibilities.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Appropriations 
Committee and the entire Senate to ensure that they have the necessary 
resources to fulfill the provisions of this legislation.
  As the primary cosponsors of the bill, Senators Durbin and Gregg 
deserve a great deal of thanks for their outstanding leadership. I 
asked Senator Durbin when he started working on this bill. He said back 
in the House 18 years ago. So sometimes it takes a long time to get 
these things done. But this is the first time in 70 years we have ever 
had a major revision of our food safety laws. Senator Gregg has also 
worked at least a dozen years, that I know of, on this bill in his time 
in the Senate. I would also like to thank my colleagues, Senator Enzi, 
the ranking member of the committee, former chairman and ranking member 
of the committee, for his help and also Senator Burr for working hard 
on the legislation and getting it where it is today.
  Finally, I thank my friend, Senator Dodd, for his tireless efforts. 
The Senate will certainly miss his leadership on this and so many other 
important issues. Additionally, I thank members of our staffs who 
helped to make this possible, and let me just--I am going to read their 
names, but let me say at the outset, while many of us were perhaps not 
around during Thanksgiving week or perhaps even the week after the 
elections, I can tell you the staffs were hard at work day after day, 
sometimes late in the evenings, sometimes on weekends, to help get this 
bill together. These staff people deserve so many thanks from not only 
me but from everyone involved with this legislation.
  From Senator Durbin's staff: Albert Sanders, Anne Wall, and Dena 
Morris; from Senator Enzi's staff: Chuck Clapton, Keith Flanagan, 
Travis Jordan, Frank Macchiarola, and Amy Muhlberg; Senator Dodd's 
staff: Anna Staton and Tamar Haro; Senator Gregg's staff has worked on 
this bill from the beginning: Elizabeth Wroe; Senator Burr's staff: 
Anna Abram and Margaret Brooks; Senator Reed's staff: Carolyn Gluck and 
Kasey Gillette; and from my staff: Kathleen Laird, Tom Kraus, Bill 
McConagha, Mark Halverson, Jenelle Krishnamoorthy, Pam Smith, and Dan 
Smith. All of them are heroes and heroines in my book. They really put 
forth supreme effort to get this bill to us today so we could have this 
overwhelming vote of approval.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.

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