[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3333]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            POULTRY INDUSTRY

  Mr. COONS. Madam President, seeing the press of business here, I will 
be brief. I wanted to take the opportunity to rise and simply speak to 
the importance of the poultry industry, something that spreads across 
the Delmarva Peninsula and is central to the State of Maryland, State 
of Delaware, and many other States in our country.
  With the sequester having kicked in, many of us who are from States 
that have livestock or poultry processing are aware of the impending 
and significant negative impact on our home States and our economies, 
on people's employment, and on their opportunity to continue to support 
their families. So I wanted to briefly speak in support of what I know 
are Senator Mikulski's tireless efforts to ensure that the 6,200 meat 
and poultry processing plants in this country do not get needlessly 
shut down.
  In the last quarter of the last calendar year alone, 2.2 billion 
chickens and turkeys were inspected by the meat inspectors of the Food 
Safety and Inspection Service. This poultry industry, which is 
nationwide, provides vital employment to the people of Delaware, 
Maryland, and many other States.
  Secretary Vilsack of the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates 
that furloughs, if implemented, of these safety inspectors could cost 
$10 billion a year in losses and $400 million a year in lost wages just 
for those directly employed.
  The private sector grows and the private sector has opportunity when 
Federal inspectors are a part of the total ecosystem of poultry in this 
country. We raise great turkeys, we raise great chickens in this 
country. We have the world's leading poultry industry, but the Food 
Safety and Inspection Service is a vital part of it.
  I commend Senator Mikulski for her tireless effort to make sure we 
find some responsible way through the sequester to ensure it does not 
needlessly harm and put out of work the tens of thousands of 
Delawareans and Marylanders who rely on this vital industry for their 
opportunities going forward.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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