[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 1008-1010]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Franken, Mr. Kohl, 
        Mrs. Feinstein, and Mr. Durbin):
  S. 216. A bill to increase criminal penalties for certain knowing and 
intentional violations relating to food that is misbranded or 
adulterated; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. LEAHY. 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

[[Page 1009]]

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.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 216

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Food Safety Accountability 
     Act of 2011''.

     SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTIES.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 47 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

     ``Sec. 1041. Misbranded and adulterated food

       ``(a) Definition.--In this section, the term `food' has the 
     meaning given that term in section 201 of the Federal Food, 
     Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321).
       ``(b) Offense.--Any person who violates subsection (a), 
     (b), (c), or (k) of section 301 of the Federal Food, Drug, 
     and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 331) with respect to any food--
       ``(1) knowingly and intentionally to defraud or mislead; 
     and
       ``(2) with conscious or reckless disregard of a risk of 
     death or serious bodily injury,
     shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 
     10 years, or both.''.
       (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of 
     sections for chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is 
     amended by adding at the end the following:

``1041. Misbranded and adulterated food.''.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Merkley):
  S. 220. A bill to provide for the reforestation of forest landscapes, 
protection of old growth forests, and management of national forests in 
the eastside forests of the State of Oregon; to the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources.
  Mr. WYDEN. 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.

[[Page 1010]]

  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.

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