WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman J. Gresham Barrett has released the following statement regarding his amendment to H.R. 2749, The Food Safety Enhancement Act:

“The fishing industry is a critical to our local economies in South Carolina. The last thing our fishermen and fish farmers need is more government intervention and further regulation. But, Democrats in the House were poised to do just that.

“Under H.R. 2749, The Food Safety Enhancement Act, they aimed to lay down a strict new requirement called ‘trace-and-track’ that could have potentially crippled the fishing industry in our state. This requirement would have forced fishermen and fish farmers to focus their time and energy on government compliance rather than running their businesses and turning a profit.

“I understand how critical this industry is to our state and I wanted to do all that I could to protect it. That’s why I urged Congressman Steve Buyer (IN, 04), who serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, to offer an amendment on my behalf that ensures our fishermen and fish farms are exempt from these unnecessary regulations. Thanks to Congressman Buyer’s leadership on this important issue, the amendment passed committee yesterday and will be included in the full bill to be considered by the House later this session.” 

During yesterday’s meeting of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Congressman Buyer made the following statement regarding Congressman Barrett’s amendment:

“I thank the Chairman for accepting my amendment to clarify the bill to ensure that fisheries are included in the definition of farms which are exempt from the tracking and tracing requirements under Section 107.  I offered the fisheries amendment on behalf of Congressman Gresham Barrett of South Carolina.  Gresham developed this amendment to protect fisherman along the Coast of South Carolina and to protect the shrimp and oyster fisherman from burdensome new FDA regulations.  Gresham did a good job of keeping the FDA off of the South Carolina fishing boats.”