we're just about to the noon hour. i've just got a couple of quick questions for you. one follows on your discussion with senator franken about what the office of indian energy is doing. and i think we have seen some good things. i'll look forward to discussing this loan guarantee with you a little bit more. i think we recognize that in places like alaska and in going back to the discussion about how we partner with canada and some of our infrastructure issues, we know that heat is the biggest energy challenge in the north, not necessarily electricity. so recognizing that the qar is looking to partner with canada on energy delivery to remote areas, this is something i want to work with you on.

i want to try to explore some of the different delivery systems that you're talking about there, whether it's space heating, efficient design, housing technologies. i was out in an isolated territory with the secretary of state on friday. you realize how isolated these communities are, even communities of significant size and significant resource. but the challenges they face, they also are exclusively powered by diesel. >> and expensive. >> extraordinarily, extraordinarily expensive. so how we deal with this. and we've got so much to learn from one another. and this is where i think we have certain advantages coming at us as we take over the chair of the arctic counsel, how we can be partnering with our northern neighbors in understanding some of the best technologies that are out there. but i would encourage us to look at what we have, developing in alaska, whether it's the cold

climate housing research center, the innovative technologies that have been coming out of there in regards to sustainable design. building community capacity. we really do have some remarkable models. and so this is something that i encourage us to really -- we'll partner with you on, but we have some key opportunities. the final issue that i want to bring up relating to alaska is the recommendations -- there's two of them. one is the remote community renewable energy partnership. and the other is this coordination with canada. and again i'm pleased with the direction that we're looking there but want to know that we're working together in this. but with regards to the remote community renewable energy

partnership, the qer states that the state department with its partnership will construct a high penetration wind diesel hybrid system in a rural arctic community. now it suggests that it's one project that they're looking to help build out. but when you take into account what we've done in the state of alaska since 2008, we've invested more than $247 million to 275 renewable energy projects across the state through our state's renewable energy grant fund. we funded $5.5 million to 20 emerging energy technology projects, spent more than $600 million on making homes more energy efficient. it's been a total of $850 million that the state has invested with its expertise and just all that it's doing. so i'm hoping that when we're

reading what's coming it of the qer it is -- it's not just limited to a single project that you're looking at with the remote community renewable energy partnership, but again looking to how we can build off what the state has already done, is continuing to do, but really develop a stronger partnership there. >> yeah. and again, i would welcome that. and i think as you know, we do have -- i think in anchorage is where they're located, a person from enrail and a person from netl there. and they might be good conduits for looking at how the state programs and what we do could be synced up. we do have those people based in alaska. >> yeah. and my last question then for you is regarding spent nuclear fuel. very little in the qer about nuclear energy and really

nothing about the back end of the fuel cycle. we have been working on this and i truly appreciate how you have intersected with not only senator cantwell and myself but senators alexander and feinstein on this issue. but why didn't, why didn't we address this in the qer? >> well, again, the qer was on infrastructure and moving energy around as opposed to the concern nuclear power. i think you're correct. we could have put together in there in terms of transportation of spent fuel, for example. we do have in our budget request for fy 16 $6.9 million, i think, to specifically address the transportation questions of spent fuel, including the kinds

of rail casts you would need, et cetera. so that's in there. but otherwise, yeah, we did not address that in the qer. but ag talking about that, including the storage options and the transportation option, developing consent based processes and looking at the defense path ways that we can now, that we can now pursue. it's a full agenda. >> it is. >> and i look forward to working on that. >> it is a full agenda and we're going to be having a hearing on it on our neck waste legislation in the next month and a half or so. we look forward to your comments on that. >> great. >> obviously a great deal that you have presented through this

qer. we appreciate that. but again, i think it's going to be incumbent on us, you and your team and d.o.e. and those of us here at the committee and on the house side as well to really figure out how do we move forward with this, how do we keep up the level of engagement, how do we make sure this is more than just talk. because the need is so clearly there there we are limiting ourselves, we are limiting our economic opportunities, we are limiting our potential as a nation when we don't focus on a longer term view of our energy infrastructure. if we can't move it around to where the people are, if we can't do it safely and in an environmentally responsible way and a cost effective way, the rest of the system just doesn't work. so work with us to make sure that we've got a real action plan moving forward and i look forward to that. >> we are very eager. and in fact we have also -- it's

not in the plan but we can share this, come back and talk about what our recommendations in the plan -- you know, which ones could we pursue with, you know, current authorities in the administration and which ones -- and that's relatively few, versus all of those that we'll need action in this body. and so i have no interest in having a wonderful monument on a library shelf as opposed to an implementation plan. and we will be turning now both to implementation issues of qer 1 and starting to think about the second round of qer 2 because this was clearly only one slice of the overall picture. if i can repeat something i said earlier on within following on what you said, that the decisions that we take i think will be important for shaping the energy system for decades. but the decisions we don't take will be equally important. doing nothing is not neutral in this business. >> i agree.

and it ought not be an option either. we look forward to working with you. senator cantwell? >> i know we're closing out as we get to the noon hour. i just again want to thank the secretary for the report and heading that up in coordination with other agencies. i certainly appreciate the climate goals that are in the report as well. more specifically want to work with you on -- i think it was something like 1 million people currently work in energy transmission but we think there will be an additional 1.5 million by 2030. that's the need. i have no doubt that we need to skill up a lot of the american workforce if we're going to meet that demand and that goal. it's, as you said, i.t., meeting the grid and it's an exciting opportunity. but i think at the base level there's a lot of work to do, whether that's through d.o.e. or inner agency work or apprentice programs or many other things.

but i think skilling the workforce that we need for the things that we say we want to do is going to be a critical aspect of middle east of meeting the energy needs of the future. >> we have formed not so long f meeting the energy needs of the future. >> we have formed not so long ago a jobs strategy council at of meeting the energy needs of the future. >> we have formed not so long ago a jobs strategy council at ago a jobs strategy council at d.o.e. under the leadership of dave foster. be delighted to have him come up and meet with you and your staff and or with others. i think making some real progress in a number of issues, including the veteran hiring into the arena. they're involved in all kinds of issues in terms of driving a jobs agenda for energy. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. with that we stand adjourned. >> thank you. thank you.

coming up in about 20 minutes, the senate small business committee will look at imported seafood and legislation that would require foreign labor laws to meet u.s. standards. that's coming up at 2:30 p.m. eastern time live here on c-span3. they were wives, and mothers. some had children and grandchildren who became presidents and politicians. they dealt with the joys is and trials of motherhood. the pleasure and sometimes chaos

of raising small children. and the tragedy of loss. just in time for mother's day, "first" "first ladies" looks at personal lives of every first lady in history, many of whom raised families in the white house. lively stories of fascinating women, an illuminating, entertaining and inspiring read based on original interviews from c-span's "first ladies" series. published by public affairs makes a great mother's day gift available in hardback or ebook. this sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on original series "first ladies influence and image," we'll look into the lives of two first ladies, elizabeth monroe broke the tradition of making social calls to washington's political society. she spoke french inside the white house and gained a reputation for being queenly by

her critics. luisa katherine adams is the only first lady to date born outside the united states. she played an important role in her husband's 1824 presidential campaign, yet had difficulty winning the approval of her mother-in-law, former first lady abigail adams. elizabeth monroe and lieuouisa cad adams. from martha washington to michelle obama sundays at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3. last month the president and chairman of the export/import bank spoke to the group's conference outlining success stories of u.s. businesses getting loans from the bank, and indirectly urged for the reauthorization of the agency. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has said he opposes

reauthorizing the export/import bank but will allow a senate vote. the bank's charter expires june 30th. good morning. welcome once again to the 2015 export/import bank annual conference. april 23rd, 1910, exactly 105 years ago. teddy roosevelt traveled to paris to deliver a message to the world about the character of the american people. roosevelt had just finished his presidency, and he had been invited to reflect on his time in office and speak about citizenship. they wanted to hear from him

what he thought set americans apart, and he delivered one of the most iconic speeches in our history, and one which i think perfectly captures the american spirit. he said "it's not the critic who counts. the credit belongs to the person who's actually in the arena who strives valiantly, who knows the triumph of high achievement and who, if he fails at least fails while daring greatly." there's something uniquely american about risk taking about striving for new frontiers, about failing and getting up again, dusting yourself off getting back in the saddle. very few cultures value that. and that is something that truly separates the american spirit from the rest of the world.

to put it simply what teddy roosevelt meant was that success belongs to those who show up who aren't afraid to take on risks or step into the arena. look around this room. what do you see? i see entrepreneurs. i see innovators. i see main street american businesses, sitting side by side with buyers who count on your quality goods and services, and to borrow a phrase i see job creators. lots of job creators. and the thing about those pesky job creators is they always show up. every time i visit a small business, they use as our insurance to break into new markets overseas. every time i meet an entrepreneur who used our working capital to hire more employees. every time i speak to a group

like this full of people who use xm products to -- ex-im products, that's who shows up. that's who's in the arena. america faces a choice today. whether we'll continue to engage in the arena of global competition or whether we'll retreat. it isn't easy going up against russia, china, to win export sales and the jobs that come with them. you know how tough it is out there. if you're an american business looking to grow your overseas sales, you have to contend with a lot of uncertainty. the dollar has risen to new heights. the price of oil has dropped to startling lows. new multi-lateral insurance

tugsz such institutions such as the asian investment bank are forming. not enl o could they tilt the competitive landscape, they could also further cloud transparency in global finance. for u.s. firms, for competition and worldwide markets has never been more intense. the nature of that competition has changed fundamentally in recent decades. there's a persistent myth out there, a belief that a u.s. company goes -- simply goes head-to-head with a foreign rival competing for sales solely on merits of quality innovation and price. it's a romantic idea. it's just not how the world works. it's not reality. the reality is there's a lot of hard-nosed competition, of grueling hours red eyes and long nights in the office.

american workers produce the highest quality, the most innovative goods and services in the world they can step into the arena and compete with anyone. but they shouldn't have to compete against whole countries. there are some 60 other versions of ex/im in countries around the world, and many of them don't play by the same rules we do. they're propping up their domestic exporters, they're offering bargain basement financing. and that often relegates free market factors like price and value to the sidelines. more and more u.s. companies aren't just competing against their counterparts in china, japan and elsewhere. they are forced to compete against china inc. our foreign competitors particular those in asia are

zealous champions in the global marketplace, forceful and unrelenting. ex-im is not like them. we don't want to be like them. we're actually capitalists. we don't take the place of private sector. we simply provide a back stop for american companies when private financing is unavailable. how do we do that? by reducing risk we unleash opportunity. let me tell you what that means. you know in the past i've talked to you about planes, trains automobiles? so this show i want to talk to you about fire trucks. in 1926 henry ford had a conversation with a chicago entrepreneur william stewart darling. the conversation prompted darling to transform his equipment company into a manufacturer of fire trucks. when darly rolled out the first

commercial fire truck later that year built on the chassis of the model t, it marked a new chapter for a business that has remained innovative and competitive to this very day. after william darley passed away in 1935 his wife mary took the reins. she ran the company for 40 years, raising a family and building on an iconic idea. today, darley still manufactures fire trucks and pumps just like this one and as the company points out after 100 years, you can still talk to a darley. so i did. i talked to three darleys. last summer i had the opportunity to meet the founder's grandsons, peter paul, jeff. jeff told me that buyers get to choose between over 150 shades of red. that's even more than you'll find at revlon.

he told me unfortunately it's a little lost on him since he's also colorblind. jeff and his brothers lead the business these days fulfilling orders for fire trucks and increasingly overseas buyers. one of those buyers is legos, nigeria, the largest city in africa. recently their firefighting capacity was in dire straits. and they knew they needed to upgrade their fleet. so a city of 12 million people, and counting, turned to a town of fewer than 14,000 people, chippewa falls, wisconsin, where darley builds their trucks. for a small family-owned business getting into the global marketplace is intimidating. securing the financing necessary to win overseas sales isn't always possible. private financing proved unavailable for the legos

transaction so darley turned to xm. xm. jeff says his operation manager, make sure you take my good side. mark, as any good person says, boss, i didn't know you had a good side. we underwrote the $16 million loan to deliver 32 firefighting vehicles and the training for the fire department and the result we reduced the risk and darley unleashed opportunity. here's what opportunity looks like. the fire trucks will support 100 u.s. manufacturing jobs while fortifying legos with the equipment.

i think we could all agree we'd rather have those jobs go to chippewa falls and other towns in the darley supply chain. even though darley is a small business, 180 manufacturing jobs is big business when you're in a small town in wisconsin. today, 80% to 85% of darley's exports are financed by xm. that means for jobs, more security for more american families. in fact that is why today we are awarding darley a sub-saharan africa export of the year award. let's give that company a round of applause. >> the opportunity isquestion is will america seize the opportunity and continue to lead in the global economy. the global middle class is expected to grow at more than

200 million people a year for the next five years. that's the size of the adult population of the united states growing year after year. they're going to need smart highways, power plants bridges satellite communications consumer goods. the demand will be unprecedented. who is going to step into the arena and meet that demand? the rewards are huge. a robust economy a vibrant manufacturing sector and most importantly, hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs. america can't afford to sit this race out. we need to use every tool in our arsenal to make sure that u.s. companies are able to get into the arena and win. ex-im is one of those tools. trade promotion authority and trade agreements such as the transpacific partnership are another. we cannot turn our back on american workers. we have a responsibility as a

nation to break down every barrier we can so our businesses can reach the global middle class. because every sale an american firm loses out on means that good paying jobs aren't going to texas, california or chippewa falls. instead, they're slipping thousands of miles away. at ex/im our role is to supportexporters but at our core we're about u.s. jobs. these are private sector jobs, the fruit of free enterprise, evidence of america's ability to compete in the global marketplace. we measure our success not just by the numbers of jobs but by the families made stronger by each of them. how will america keep writing those stories notice coming age. we've talked about the exploration ahead of us. we know that export jobs pay up

to 18% more making that progress real for more american families. and we also know that as demand grows for each sale, whether it is fire trucks or ice cream the jobs either come to america or they go someplace else. it is a zero sum game. that's the choice being made. and it is a fact some politicians seem to ignore. and who feels the impact most of all? small businesses, and they make up about 90% of the ex-im customer base. more and more small businesses are making exporting a part of their dna. they know the opportunity is out there. but many of them don't have access to the financing they need to compete globally. ex-im provides that access when there is a gap in the private sector. people like the darleys are not well connected. they're not crony capitalists.

they're not interested in handouts. they pay for their financing. and like all of our customers, they're entrepreneurs, they're innovators who want to make more american made goods and export them to the world. gabrielle heda was one of those entrepreneurs. he was born in mexico city. we met last summer in mesquite, texas. he runs a small concrete additive business out of a modest warehouse just east of texas with his wife, jane, and their son, david. in fact they would be here today but they're celebrating his 60th birthday in spain and he had planned this trip about six months ago. their company is called fritz pack and they manage 40 different specialty products like plasters, the kind of thing you'll find in swimming pools or sports arena. if you're gone to a cowboys or colts game you've seen their handy work.

gabriel epillpitd miz epitomizes the american dream. just as he was about to move into a new facility the recession hit. he was forced to lay off 3 of his 14 employees, people who were like family to him. he even contemplated selling off the business. but then gabriel and david came up with the idea of going global. when your typical sale is $10,000 or $12,000, your local bank isn't always interested in financing you. and that's the problem they ran into. so when private financing proved unavailable, they turned to ex im for a reliable insurance package to protect their overseas sales. the result, exports now account for 35% of their business. now it is not just the nfl. it is world cup stadiums in brazil and the olympic stadiums in vancouver.

and the best part -- that export growth allowed gabriel to rehire those three laid off employeesing with delvin pam and andre. they're back in the fritz pack family earning a paycheck, creating more great exports. it is a testament to the obama administration the groundwork we laid coupled with the hard work and ingenuity of american private sector that we have added 12 million jobs in the last five years. and we've landed almost 600,000 since january alone. at ex im we're proud to have done our part by providing 164,000 jobs last year alone. i used to run a family business. and in fact my mother lillian and my brother david are sitting here right up front so i know firsthand jobs are more than

just a number. but as a country we often don't talk about what those jobs mean on a personal level to our friends and family. hard working americans like delvin, pam and andre. lost in those numbers is what a big order job really means for the person who has one. having a good job is a tremendous source of pride and self-esteem. it brings added meaning and purpose to your life. it is a part of your identity. how often are we all asked what do you do, where do you work? and that's to say nothing about what a job means to your financial security. being able to provide and protect your family is one of the most fundamental of human needs. a good job makes it easier to pay the mortgage buy groceries or to pay the tuition to send their kid to college. it makes your family stronger

your neighborhood brighter and your local economy more resilient. fritz pack is just one example of what we strive to make possible at ex im. but even though the u.s. has added jobs at an historic rate, there are still too many americans with meaningful work and good paying jobs still out of reach. u.s. small businesses still struggle to secure competitive financing. and china and other challengers still do what they can to beat american companies in the global markets. i know you've just finished breakfast, but let's not ignore the fact that our competitors are trying to eat your lunch. that's what's happening today. with all that happening today i want to close by talking about tomorrow. when i say today and tomorrow i'm not justing about this conference -- although i do hope that you will engage with our

speakers and panels, meet each other, strike up a deal or two. we have buyers here from more than three dozen countries. what i'm talking about is how we as a country succeed in tomorrow's economy. what's required to succeed in tomorrow's economy -- good paying jobs, global leadership resilient small businesses, all made stronger by ex im. the years ahead are critical. whole economies will succeed or stagnate based on their ability to reach customers beyond their borders. while ex imwas created more than 80 years ago, we were built for the needs of tomorrow. for all that america has accomplished we still face the same choice over and over again. the same choice faced by teddy roosevelt, the same choice we face today, the same choice

we'll face tomorrow. and that choice is whether we will continue to climb back into the arena. it's a choice about whether or not we're going to show up. there's a struggle ahead of us for the durable economic foundation for global leadership, for the countless jobs that are up for grabs. but we have to keep entering the arena. we have to show up. at ex im we're proud of our past supporting more than 1.3 million u.s. jobs since 2009, and generating a surplus of nearly $7 billion for taxpayers over the last two decades. but we also know that american businesses and workers are counting on us to be alongside them tomorrow. so we're going to keep fighting every single day to reduce risk unleash opportunity for small businesses, for job seekers, and the entrepreneurs who count on

us for certainty and support. it is a fight we look forward to, and it is one that america can and must win. thank you. >> we'll leave the last moments of this recorded event, take you live now to capitol hill and a hearing on seafood industry regulations and safety. senator david vitter of louisiana charities senate small business committee and he just gaveled in. live coverage on c-span3. >> want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today to testify on these important issues. as any one who's visited louisiana knows, we enjoy great quality seafood and that plays a major role in our culture and economy and this is true for other states in the united states. it is an important part of our economy. in louisiana that seafood industry supports 20,000 jobs in the state with an annual economic impact of over $1.7

billion. more regionally, the gulf states produce 70% of the nation's oysters, 69% of domestic shrimp and are a leading producer of domestic hard and soft shell blue crabs. more broadly the seafood industry is responsible for creating jobs and revenue that support so many families along the gulf, in alaska and elsewhere, including the east coast and the west coast. seafood processors in louisiana and across the gulf coast rely on seasonable foreign workers to fill the most labor intensive positions throughout the sector. these workers come to the united states legally under the h2b visa program. many of these operations take place in small rural communities where access to a stable, reliable labor force can be extremely difficult. recently we've seen the difficulty of compliance with

this program increase, most notably the department of labor's decision to stop accepting private wage rate surveys which has often forced businesses to reallocate their financial resources. and that has been a big, big cost increase for these businesses. another area that requires attention is ensuring the safety sf seafood that's being imported into the country. it is imperative that we ensure that foreign imports are playing by the same rules and regulations that our domestic producers operate under. that's one of the reasons i introduced the imported seafood safety standards act. this legislation increases inspection rates, quality standards, and penalties in order to protect american families. in closing we need to make sure that federal regulations of all types, like the two areas i've highlighted, do not unfairly and negatively impact our small

domestic seafood providers. what washington bureaucrats often fail to realize is that their rule making can literally put some small businesses like domestic seafood producers out of business so we need to focus on these and other regulatory areas. again, i thank everyone for being here today and i look forward to our discussion. with that i'll turn it over to our ranking member. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you to all of our panelists this afternoon for being here. as the chairman said, seafood is a big issue in my home state of new hampshire. just as it is in louisiana. even though we only have 18 miles of coastline, it is an industry that is important to the state, both because of our tourism industry and the fishing -- the pleasure boat fishing that goes on off the

coast of new hampshire but also because we have not only a small fishing industry but we also have a fish processing industry in new hampshire. and mr. chairman, in the interest of brevity and because i have to leave early, i'm going to submit my full statement for the record but i just wanted to raise a couple of concerns. one is not directly related to this hearing, but since we're talking about seafood i feel compelled to talk about the concerns that we have in new hampshire and the northeast relative to the fishing quotas that have been set by the department of commerce and specifically by noaa. over the past few years, the federal government has found that the declining levels of cod in the gulf of maine have been dramatic. there is some disagreement about that among scientists and among the fishing industry but they have set very dramatic, very low

quotas that have almost totally decimated the fishing industry in new hampshire and, again i appreciate that that's not the subject of today's hearing, but it is an issue that we are very concerned about and that i think it is something that we need to deal with because of its impact on our small business fishing fleet in new hampshire. the other issue that is relevant to the day's discussion is one that is having an impact in new hampshire as well. and that is the impact of creating a separate federal program to remove catfish inspection authority from the fda. as some of you probably already know, the 2008 farm bill transferred the inspection of catfish alone from fda to the department of agriculture and it left the fda with the jurisdiction of all over seafood

products. that means that all of our seafood processors that handle catfish will now be subject to two separate sets of regulations. this is a costly and unnecessary burden on these businesses. it will kill jobs and hurt economic development. and in fact, just the prospect of this regulation has put a freeze on job creation in some of those companies in new hampshire. one seafood company, highliner foods, which i have had the opportunity to tour, has put on hold the job expansion that they would like to do because of the uncertainty around these regulations. mr. chairman, i'd like to enter this letter from highliner foods, for the record. >> without objection. >> this duplicative regulation does not just affect the seafood industry. it is not really about food safety, i believe. it is an effort to set up trade barriers against foreign catfish that will dramatically affect

not only the seafood processing business in new hampshire and this country but it also could put us open to challenge at the wto and trade retaliation against other agricultural industries. so, mr. chairman i have been working with other members of the senate to try to repeal this duplicative program. i hope we can do that. i think it is unnecessary and i hope that we will have the opportunity to do that and to further discuss this not just in this committee but when we get to the floor of the senate. so thank you again, to our panelists for being here and i look forward to the discussion today. >> thank you, senator shaheen. >> we'll now go to our federal panel of witnesses. i'll introduce both, then we'll hear their testimony and have discussion following their testimony. dr. steven solomon is deputy associate commissioner for regulatory affairs at the fda.

he was appointed to that in april 2014. prior to his appointment, he served in several capacities at the fda since 1990. dr. solomon holds a dvm degree from ohio state university and a masters of public health from johns hopkins university. and prior to joining the fda he owned and operated a private veterinary practice. and he will be followed by miss porsche wu assistant secretary of the employment and training administration within the u.s. department of labor. she was appointed to that in april 2004 and she now leads that employment and training administration with its mission to address our nation's workforce needs through high-quality training and employment programs. prior to that, she held a number of positions in public non-profit and private sector

situations including serving at the white house on the domestic policy council, a special assistant to the president for labor and workforce policy. miss wu holds a yale law school degree, and a degree from yale college, and a masters degree from cornell. is originally from albany, new york. welcome to both of you. and we'll start with dr. solomon. >> good afternoon. chairman vitter, ranking member shaheen, i am dr. steve solomon, deputy director for associate affairs at the fda. i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the agency's ongoing efforts to oversee the safety of the u.s. seafood supply. fda has a strong regulatory program in place to ensure the safety of both domestic and imported seafood. in fact, the hazard analysis and risk preventive control framework of fda seafood safety

program is a basis for the preventive controls requirements for other fda regulated foods called for in the fda food safety moderation act, or fsma. the agency has a variety of tools to ensure compliance with seafood safety compliance, including inspections of both domestic and foreign processing facilities, 100% electronic screening of you will a imported products, examination and sampling of domestic seafood, and seafood offered for import in the united states. domestic surveillance sampling of imported products. inspection of seafood importers and foreign country program assessments. in today's testimony i want to discuss the fda's regulatory framework for overseeing the safety of the u.s. seafood supply emphasizing the agency's risk-based efforts with regard to imported seafood. processors of fish and fishery products are subject to fda's

hazard analysis critical control point regulation. the regulation requires domestic and foreign processors of fish and fishery products to understand the food safety hazards associated with their process and product and require a preventive system to control for those hazards. every processor is required to have and implement a written haccp plan whenever a hazard analysis reveals one or more food safety hazards that are reasonably likely to occur. foreign processors who export seafood to the united states also have to -- apply to the haccp regulation. in addition haccp regulations require importers to understand the hazards associated with the products they are importing, and to take positive steps to verify that the obtained shipments from foreign processors who comply with these requirements. in recent years, they've been

reports of seafood in the united states being labeled with incorrect market names. fda's aware that there may be economic incentives for some seafood producers and retailers to misrepresent the identity of the seafood species that they sell to buyers and consumers. while seafood fraud is often an economic issue we have heightened concerns when species substitution poses a public health risk. the agency has invested in significant scientific advancements to enhance its ability to identify seafood species using state of the art dna sequencing. fda is actively working to transfer this technology which will enable the seafood industry and others to monitor and test their products to confirm the species purchase is correct. turning now to imports specifically, it is the importer's responsibility to offer for entry into the united states a product that's fully compliant with all applicable

u.s. laws. fda has numerous tools and authorities that enable the agency to take appropriate action regarding imported product. in recent years the agency has significantly increased its number of foreign food inspections. furthermore, if fda requests to inspect a foreign facility and is refused, fsma gave the agency the authority to not allow that facility's food submission into the united states. besides haccp inspection of foreign facilities, the agency also conducts surveillance of food offered for import at the border to check for compliance with u.s. requirements. fda reviews all import entries electronically prior to the product being allowed into the country. the agency has implemented an automated screening tool, the predict system which significantly improves fda screening of imported food. predict utilizes theed a missability history of the firm

or a specific product and incorporates the inherent risk associated with the product. for example, a predict review includes the facility inspection history, date of quality concerns, sample analytical findings and type of product that the firm offers for entry into u.s. commerce. based on this electronic screening, the agency will direct resources to the most critical entries that have the greatest impact on public health. a subset of the import entry's flag may be physically inspected and/or sampled at varying rates depending on the type of the seafood product and risk factors described. another key regulatory tool for controlling imported goods is the import alert. import alert informed fda field personnel that the agency has sufficient evidence or other information about a particular product producer shipper or importer, to believe that future shipments of an imported product may be violative.

on the basis of that evidence fda field personnel may detain the article that is being offered for import in the united states without physically examining the product. the the agency has over 45 active seafood import alerts that focus on imports from certain firms, products, and/or countries based on past violations or public health concerns. an import alert shifts the burden to the importer to demonstrate that the product meets fda regulatory requirements. for example, fda imposed a countrywide import alert on five agricultural species from china in june 2007 due to the presence of unapproved animal drugs. these entries are currently subject to private laboratory testing before they're allowed into domestic commerce. finally, i'd like to note that the fda's working globally to better accomplish its mission to promote and protect the public health of the united states. as one example the agency has

conducted foreign country assessments to evaluate the country's laws for and implement implementation of good agriculture practices. uses the information from country assessments to the target better surveillance sampling of imported agriculture products, informed the planning of foreign seafood inspections, provided additional evidence for potential regulatory actions and approved collaboration with foreign government and industry to achieve better compliance with fda's regulatory requirements. in closing, oversight of the safety of the u.s. food supply continues to be a top priority for fda. the agency has a strong regulatory program and place for seafood products. we'll continue to work with our domestic and international partners to ensure the safety of both domestic and imported seafood. thank you, again, for the opportunity to appear before you today, and i'd be happy to answer any questions. >> thank you very much doctor. now we'll hear from ms. wu.

welcome. >> thank you. chairman vitter, members of the committee, thank you for having me here today to discuss the program and the seafood industry. my name is porsha wu and i'm the assistant secretary at the department of labor. together, we administer the h2b program. allows employers to meet legitimate needs for temporary foreign workers. and the department takes very seriously the statutory responsibility to administer this program. and to ensure that u.s. workers have meaningful access to these job opportunities that their wages and working conditions are not adversely affected. these efforts help protect foreign born workers from exploitation. the department recognizes the vital role that the h2b program plays for the seafood industries. many seafood employers are multigenerational, family-owned businesses, and they're a source of cultural pride in coastal areas.

the jobs these businesses provide are critical to local communities and create additional jobs in other related industries. and, mr. chairman, as you referenced, these businesses are often a remote or rural areas and they can struggle to attract and retain a sufficient workforce necessary to provide seafood products for the united states and for the world. thus, many do depend on temporary workers including temporary foreign workers. over the last five years, employers in some of the largest seafood producing states, like louisiana and maryland were among the top ten users of the h2b program. last year, approximately 55% of the seafood jobs certified by the department of labor were located in the gulf coast states ranging from shrimp boat deck hands in texas to seafood and crawfish processors and packagers in louisiana. we understand that seafood employers and others are impacted by the current annual 66,000 number cap on h2 b

workers. that cap is set by congress. and we are again, seeing demand nationwide that exceeds that cap. the department is committed to maintaining a fair and reliable application process for those who use the program. however, unfortunately, in recent years, we have faced difficulties in achieveing stability in this program. because the department of labor's h2b's regulations have been subject to numerous cases brought in court by both employers and worker advocates. in fact, this litigation ultimately resulted in temporarily suspending the processing of h2b applications earlier this year. last week, in order to quickly reinstate the h2b program and also to bring certainty, stability and continuity to that program, the department of labor and the department of homeland security jointly issued two new regulations. one is an interim final rule establishing the overall framework for the h2b program. i should note it's open for public comment until june 29th.

the other is a final updated wage rule that allows the use of private wage surveys in certain circumstances in keeping with the recent court decision. these rules immediately restore processes for approving prevailing wage requests and labor certification applications so the program can continue to operate. they expand employer requirements for recruitment and consideration of u.s. workers. so united states workers have a fair shot at finding and applying for these jobs. it also permits employers in the seafood industry to continue to stagger the entry of their h2b workers into the united states. the regulations strengthen worker protections by clarifying employer obligations with respect to wages, working conditions and benefits that must be offered to h2b and u.s. workers alike. and finally, as i noted, the rules explicitly include the use of private wage surveys, which were restricted by a recent court decision. and so we set guidelines for how

these employers, these surveys can now be used. and that includes state surveys often used in the seafood industry. both the department of labor and dhs are trying to ensure a smooth transition between the former regulations and the new rules. first and foremost, anyone who had already applied under the old rules or who were in line does not have to change anything. they will continue to operate under the prior regulations. second, the new regulations allow an expedited process for employers who have a start date of need before october 1st, 2015. so people will have time to quickly transition. in conclusion the department of labor strives to maintain an h2b program that's both responsive to legitimate employer needs where qualified u.s. workers are not available. and to provide adequate protections for u.s. and foreign temporary workers. doing so is not only good for law-abiding employers including employers in the seafood industry, but also for the many u.s. workers seeking jobs in fields that rely heavily on the

program. thank you, again for this opportunity and i look forward to answering your questions. >> okay. thank you. and we'll start with our questions. and let me begin with you on one of the topics you discussed directly. and that's private wage surveys. isn't it correct that the new rule you're describing greatly limits compared to past practice, greatly narrows and limits the use of private wage surveys? >> senator, it is true that in december last year we had our previous rule allowed significant use of private wage surveys. that use was injoined by a court in december of last year. and the court's opinion lays out a great deal of reasoning including concerns about how private wage surveys might undercut wages and some other reasons that, for example surveys that use only entry-level wages are not

permissible under the law. they found that to be a violation of the law. at that time we had to immediately suspend the use of surveys because of the court's order. however, with our new rule we allow surveys in limited circumstances. there are some, and again it's in keeping with the court's order, we believe where for example, an occupation isn't well represented. we also allow for state conducted surveys. many states do this. there are basic criteria in keeping with the court's order. for example, as i mentioned, you have to look at average wages in an industry not simply entry-level wages. but we believe this may be an opportunity for many in the seafood industry to take advantage of this provision. we actually i was talking with some of your folks from louisiana today, and we were putting out some assistance next week to explain to people how they can use these surveys. in the transition provisions, we also said that for example if you already got your

certification but haven't brought your workers in and wondering can i go back and get a new survey wage as long as it complies with our basic criteria, we put in a provision to allow people to go back and adjust that wage. >> well as you know, there's a lot of concern that the new system is too narrow and narrows the use of these surveys way beyond anything that would be absolutely required or demanded by the court. what's your reaction to that critique, which i think is a fair one? >> thank you senator. i think we believe that the new provisions are in keeping with the court's order. i should note that the state provided surveys, frankly may be getting criticism from the other side going beyond what the court allowed. i do think it may be an avenue that industries particularly the seafood industry could take advantage of and have taken advantage of it in the past.

>> does use of these surveys allow for recognizing differences which exist from one local area to others within the state? >> yes senator, it could. it's up to the state as to what level of detail is conducted in the surveys. they certainly could provide a survey where there are differences in locality. obviously with different sorts of tasks in the industry. and the department is not in the business of dictating how employers should pay their wage or not. i know some employers for example, use peace rate. they'll be able to continue doing so. >> okay. and dr. solomon, my understanding that in 2014 only about 2.77% of all seafood imports were inspected. do you think that percentage is adequate? and if not, what does the fda plan to do differently?

>> so the seafood safety system i described during my testimony is multifacetted. so there's many components of it. first, it's putting the hazard analysis critical control point regulations in place which puts the burden on the processor to produce safe product. then we have oversight by doing foreign inspections of them. then we also conduct inspections of regulations by the importers. so the testing that takes place at the border is a verification activity or a surveillance activity to try and find if there's any flaws in this system and how it's working and to identify them and verification activities. we test at different rates a sampling. so taking generic rates for seafood, we test higher rates for certain products, certain commodities, higher risk areas and much higher rates than that because we want to have additional verification for those particular aspects, which pose the greatest safety concerns.

>> i understand all of that. i didn't mean to suggest by my question that you just do one thing. you just stop 2.77% at the border tested. so as part of that overall effort, do you think the net inspection rate of 2.77% is adequate? >> examination at the border at the verification activity at the rates we do, we think is a viable control measure in light of all of the other measures that we have in place. >> so you have no plans to increase it? >> with the resources we currently have we would not just increase sampling testing. if the agency had additional resources, we would focus on all the aspects of the framework -- >> why would you increase it if you have more resources? >> greater oversight in how the

system's working, we would do more foreign inspections, importer examinations. but, again not on a universal basis, on a risk basis. >> the level you do now is not optimal. >> we think we actually have very few food borne illnesses associated with seafood products. but with more resources, the agency could do more. >> okay. i -- i'm just trying to understand you're suggesting it's adequate, but in the next sentence, you say you'd certainly do more with more money. >> so it's a risk basis in terms of looking at the products that are coming in. with additional resources, we could look at lower levels of risk. we're looking at the highest levels of risk now. >> a batch of actually tested and rejected seafood imports has been simply shopped to another port of entry.

what in your overall system today categorically prevents that? >> so we have a notification system. when we refuse an entry that electronic notification system not only notifies customs and border protection, but all the other fda district offices imports. >> and so how is that batch tagged indelibly so that that notification is meaningful so that those other ports can identify the same batch we're talking about. >> so as you may be aware we've been looking -- working for many years to try to get a marking rule that would provide that marking of the product. that is not in place yet. but right now, we do notifications based off the data that we have on who the importer, is what the commodity line is, and make sure everyone is aware about that shipment was refused. >> so if they -- there isn't a

set marking rule. so if they change the packaging or any of the markings, they could very possibly get away with what i'm describing? >> the system is not foolproof. i agree with you. but we do do notifications. >> okay. well, i would suggest that's a bigger hole than simply saying it's not absolutely foolproof. but we'll pursue that. senator shaheen? >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. solomon, as i said in my opening statement, i'm very concerned that we are in the process of setting up a new program under the department of agriculture to separate cat fish out from all other seafood and inspect them separately. i think it's dueplicative, and i wondered if you could talk about the program that has been operating under fda, which up until now had the responsibility for inspecting cat fish. can you tell us how it's

functioned? and whether or not cat fish consumption has posed a risk to public health? is there a reason to set up a separate program? >> so the last part of the question, cat fish is not one of the species that we particularly target. controls in place that have been adequately controlling issues associated with cat fish. >> so and just to be clear it's not the fda or the department of labor or -- usda

that has set up this program separately. it was congress that did this. and the farm bill. but there wasn't a safety risk to human health from cat fish that triggered this effort. is that how you would analyze the situation? >> i'm not aware of any specific safety hazards unique to cat fish. >> thank you. and i know it may be hard for you to put a cost figure on the inspection of cat fish under the fda jurisdiction that it may take you some time to come up with that. it's my understanding that right now the usda's cat fish inspection program, it's estimated that it will cost about $14 million a year to operate. so i'm going to ask you to take for the record and try to get for this committee the cost of the inspection of cat fish under

fda jurisdiction if you would. >> we'd be happy to provide that back to you. >> okay. thank you. miss wu? >> i appreciate the fact that the department is in a challenging position relative to how to make the visa program work given that we have not yet taken up comprehensive immigration reform, which would go a long way towards addressing this challenge. but in the meantime, we do have small businesses in my state, we heard from the chairman in louisiana who are using the h2b program, and are confused about how the new rules will affect their business. so can you talk a little bit about how you're addressing outreach to the small businesses affected? >> absolutely, senator. as i noted we have a bunch of fact sheets on our website. we're also doing some sort of

webinars and outreach next week to talk with people. we always -- we have frequent listening sessions. we recognize the use of this program by small business. we're happy to answer any questions. we have very detailed questions about you know, if i already submit in my application what happens to me now. and i think as i've noted, for people who have already admitted their application for this whole court case in april, they can just keep going along. they got approved, they can keep going along, running the program the way they were going to do it this summer. there will be changes in the future. for those who want workers before october 1st we put in sort of expedited protsz. as you may know, dhs administers the cap, but the cap was hit fairly early this year. but we continue to process requests for labor certification because there are some exceptions. we're happy to answer any questions. we are doing outreach to small businesses. >> and so when you advise those webinars that you're doing, do

you notify small business administration so they can get out, get it out to the small business development centers to share that with other businesses around the country? how do you get the word out that you're doing those kinds of webinars? >> well, first and foremost, we use the contacts list we have of the users of the program. we focus on the contacts we have. but if you have other suggestions or if you're concerned about the employers in your state. we'd be happy to conduct. who follow these regulations closely. we make sure to get the word out to them. and we have regular listening sessions with them to hear about their concerns. i will note that the new comprehensive rule is an interim rule. we took comments on a similar rule in 2011 2012, made some

changes in part, in recognition of the concerns of small business. we are taking comments again and we very much welcome people's comments on how we can improve the program and make it usable for them. >> if anybody has applied for h2b visas in the past, will they get a notification of proposed rule changes? of various outreach efforts that you're doing automatically because they're on your list? >> they should. they should. i will check with my operations. >> behind you, they're nodding. so hopefully that means that any new hampshire company that's applied in the past will get those notifications. >> yes, that's our hope. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. next is senator ayotte. >> thank you, chairman. i wanted to follow up on the question that senator shaheen had asked dr. solomon about the cat fish program. as far as i can tell, the u.s.

fda handles seafood inspections for all other forms of seafood, correct? >> that is correct. >> and so there's no reason why you couldn't continue to handle independently the inspection as you did before congress on its own, created this duplicative inspection regime, which is actually a low-risk species, correct? >> we are currently, since that rule's not in effect yet, we are currently handling all the cat fish inspections. >> and in the end, as i understand it, it's been interesting to me we have nine gao reports on this topic. and those nine reports consistently recommend eliminating the newly created by congress usda program that as i understand, you wouldn't know the numbers, but as i understand has already spent $20 million, not one fish has been inspected. obviously the fda has handled the inspection of seafood for a

long time. and here we are in the congress going to already spend another usda trying to stand up duplicative inspection. already spent $20 million on it. it's going to cost inspecting seafood, and to carve out just cat fish so that we can spend millions of dollars more to have the usda have another

office inspecting cat fish, which you're already doing quite well for one species of fish. you know, these are the kinds of things i think people look at washington and they say, what are y'all doing down there? so i really hope you know, that we will have some common sense on this and allow you to continue to do what you've been doing historically rather than creating another continuing to plunk millions of dollars into a duplicative program. i also want to follow up on the h2b issue. i share, obviously, i serve in new hampshire with senator shaheen. and what i have heard in new hampshire, many of our seasonal businesses depend on these workers.

as we look to the application process next year you know, given that this is people have to plan on what their workforce needs are. >> thank you, senator. it has been frustrating. i know. it's been frustrating for us trying to run a program. i'm sure it's been frustrating and frightening for a lot of small businesses when these court decisions come along and halt us from doing something we have been doing. and the program, they could suspend this. it has really been very difficult. that is why we asked for a stave of the court sword so we could keep running the program this spring. and now we've issued comprehensive rules even though the department of labor believes we have the authority to do this on our own. because of the legal challenges, we jointly issue these regulations with dhs. so i think we feel like we're at least insulating ourselves from that level of legal attack. unfortunately, we do continue to see attacks from all sides on

this program. but we hope that brings some certainty and stability. and we also are trying to include some provisions that will make things easier over the long run for businesses using this program. >> well, i really appreciate that. because just the feedback i've gotten from businesses in new hampshire on the program is that under the administration it's become more complicated, more difficult, more paperwork. and as i look at the new h2b interim rules on april 29th more than 100 pages. and i see the burden on employers increasing. so i hope when you look at this that we need to decrease the burden on employers not create more paperwork. especially when many of them, as you know, this is something that they do every year, and they've been in the program already. so thank you for being here today. >> thank you. next we'll go to senator cantwell. >> thank you, mr. chair.

and dr. solomon, i wanted to ask you about russian pollock. last fall i sent a letter to the fda commission requesting to fix this labeling problem. the product from pollock and not just alaska pollock. the change would prevent russian pollock from being labored as united states alaskan pollock. we requested the change in 2011 now it's may 2015. do you agree the term would give consumers the impression that the product is from alaska? >> so the determination about the species naming is handled by our center for food safety and applied nutrition. they have what's called a seafood list. i know your submission, that issue is before that group. they look at both the species

name. they work with -- they look at the dna sequencing that talks about these different species. and i know they have that issue under review. >> and so when will we hear about that decision? >> i know they're actively working on it. i don't have that. we'll be happy to try and get back with you. >> okay. do you think in your view as the russian pollock industry, a sustainable fishing, you know industry specifically, scientifically, i guess i would say. >> so i don't think i'm qualified to speak on that. we look at fish from a food safety perspective. and we're not, you know, related to the trade issues or other issues associated with it. >> well, i think you know, we see things obviously, about it. they're known for labor issues, just last month the russian pollock catcher process sank in the bering sea.

only 63 crew members survived 69 were lost. 40% of the crew were there illegally from countries like berma, ukraine, latvia. and so these lives are being lost because of lack of training and survival skills. and then, consumers are seeing a product that's labeled alaska. and not really alaskan pollock. we hope you'll get a decision about this and look at the way the industry is operating in the right consumers have to understand this product. thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> okay. thank you, both, very much. we'll excuse you and call up our second panel of witnesses as they get situated i'm going to go ahead and be introducing all three of them. we're really pleased to be joined by dr. mike strain the commissioner of the louisiana department of agriculture and forestry who was elected to that

position in 2007. sworn to office in january 2008. dr. strain holds a doctorate in medicine from lsu and opened the claiborne hill veterinary hospital in covington soon after he received that degree. we're also joined by mr. john p. connolly president of the national fisheries institute america's leading trade association, advocateing for the full seafood supply chain. john was chairman of the international coalition of fisheries associations and board trustee of the marine stewardship council and currently a board member of the international seafood sustainability organization. and we're also joined by mr. frank randall president of randall incorporated. frank is a seafood processor from lafayette, louisiana. over 40 years of experience in the industry. and also owns randall's restaurant in lafayette, louisiana.

welcome to all of you, and we'll start with dr. strain. >> thank you. good afternoon, chairman. thank you very much for allowing us to discuss this. >> again, mr. chairman, thank you very much for the opportunity to come here and speak today. my name is dr. mike strain. i'm the louisiana commissioner of the department of agriculture of forestry and aqua culture. i'm testifying on part of the louisiana department of agriculture. state department's are responsible for a wide variety of programs including food safety combatting the introduction and spread of plant and animal diseases and fostering the economic vitality of our rural communities. our department overseas all agriculture activities within the state, including the markets for products produced for our farmers and especially, when we here to talk about today in the seafood industry which falls under my purview. first of all i would like to

thank miss wu and other members of the department of labor who allowed us to come to visit with them on march 23rd about this issue and have a very open and frank discussion. also with me today is the director of the national association of state departments of agriculture which i'm a vice president. my statement is also consistent with the position of the national -- the national association of the state departments of agriculture representing the commissioner, secretaries and directors across all 50 states and four territories. the communication of sound, public policy and programs. while promoting and protecting the environment and our consumers. in order to feed our increased u.s. population, we must have a stable agricultural labor supply. the ability of seasonal businesses to keep the doors open and retain their full-time

u.s. employees relies upon having successful peak seasons. during the busy seasons companies must supplement the permanent staff with temporary seasonal employees. employers spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in their efforts to fill these positions. even in today's tough economic climates, there are not enough local workers available to fill all the temporary seasonal positions. and efforts to obtain u.s. workers to relocate for temporary seasonal employment have not been successful. as a result businesses must utilize the h2b guest worker program to find seasonal workers and workers for their peak workforce needs. the program is vitally important for many industries including forestry, nursery, landscaping outdoor amusement, restaurant and hospitality, tourism, livestock, horse training, and many others.

it's in a critical situation because seafood processors traditionally cannot fill the temporary or seasonal vacancies with u.s. workers. rural areas that do not have sufficient populations to supply their extra workforce needs. oven the various processors operating for their own jobs and business operations. in 2014 louisiana hired 5,546 h2b workers. for each worker, it is estimated that 4.64 american jobs are created and sustained. hurricanes katrina and rita, floods on the mississippi river,

spilling water through the spillways and the basin and drought. the h2b regulations released on april 29th, 2015, by the u.s. department of labor and the u.s. department of homeland security could impact an already fragile industry's economic competitiveness. regulatory instability. the h2b wage rule at the department of labor adopted in january 19 2011 and imposed new untested methodology that would significantly increase cost for small and seasonal small businesses. after being blocked by congress in april 2013, the dol issued an interim rule that issued the same methodology for setting wages but recognized the importance of staged wait surveys. the new rule released two weeks ago is virtually identical to the rule blocked by congress causing additional obstacles from employers in the program. in december 2014 the department

of labor announced it would no longer allow the private wage rate surveys, including louisiana. my staff has spent countless hours gathering information to depict the wages that the industry is paying in our geographic location. this action forced employers into accepting higher prevailing wages wages, and many seafood processor haves not received the workers they need. seafood processing has begun early in the spring and with with the crawfish industry, especially, it is time sensitive. these actions have a negative impact on the seafood industry and related commerce sectors such as restaurants, et cetera. two months ago the lsu conducted analysis of the recent h2b policy changes from the u.s. department of labor from the louisiana seafood industry. the assessment was conducted in

response to potential changes in the cost and availability of labor stemming from a mid-year cap on h2 b permits and the announcement that it would no longer accept the private wage rate surveys. results indicate that for every $1 of employee compensation created by the seafood preparation and packaging industry in louisiana employee compensation increased by $2.06 across all sectors of louisiana economy. this includes the original $1 of employee compensation created by the seafood preparation and packaging industry, plus $1.06 of induced multiplier effects across all sectors of the economy. total income generated by h2b visa workers in the louisiana seafood industry is estimated between $36 million and $43 million. based on the assumption of $35 million in revenue, the loss of this revenue for any given number of firms would lead to a reduction in labor income across the entire louisiana economy. eventually leading to a number of companies closing.

the economic impact of two processing facilities closing is $5.3 million. and with five firms shutting down, 13.3. louisiana has already faced a number of processing facilities closing due to hurricanes and oil spills. and the industry simply cannot sustain -- be sustained without a stable workers. i'm certain not only seafood industry in louisiana impacted but the entire industry will be affected by these actions. our markets are subject to particularly fierce competition from abroad. for example, the chinese have been extremely aggressive in trying to corner the u.s. crawfish market. this predatory practice and behavior began in 1993 and has continued. the chinese presently control over 15% of the market and capture even a larger market share if our producers are put a further competitive price and labor disadvantage. without temporary h2b guest seasonal workers the processors

would shut down, eliminating the primary market for our fishermen and our farmers to sell their catch. as a result, foreign seafood wound gain a stronger foothold in the u.s. market and our fishermen and farmers who produce and harvest crawfish oysters and cat fish would be devastated and a key segment of the louisiana economy crippled. once we lose the processors we would not be able to depend on them coming back in future years. therefore the losses because of the processors scale back and do not have the ability to operate during the season will have irreparable and bad repercussions now in the future. the short-term consequence of an immediate expulsion of this vital segment of the workforce would cause a production crisis and a wide variety of seafood processing field and nursery crops, sugar processing, forestry, livestock, restaurant industry and others. this would leave the united states and the state of louisiana no alternative but to import many food products for

food countries from countries with surplus foreign labor. this is unacceptable. we must do everything in our power to grow and support america's jobs and economy. we're asking for your help. we must streamline and expedite the h2b process. we need a working system without overburdensome rules unrealistic timetables and outright road blocks. neglecting the labor needs of agriculture will raise the cost and the production in a way that harms farmers, fishers and industries throughout america. i appreciate your time and encourage you to work with us to find workable solutions. ways that we can facilitate rather than making it so difficult to where our processors and our industries cannot operate. where we're at currently, we have a large crawfish harvest. and we don't have enough peelers to process it.

and that puts us in a severe economic state and i'm sure mr. randall will address that, as well. thank you. >> thank you very much, dr. strain. we'll now go to john connolly. welcome. >> thank you chairman vitter, for invoiting the national fisheries institute to present our views today. our comments will involve a brief introduction. the economics of the american seafood industry and the seafood safety system and the results. the nation's most comprehensive trade association, our members include harvesters like those on deadliest catch, importers who enable us to enjoy seafood around the globe. to retailers and restaurants. we do represent all geographic regions, and we are particularly proud to have had the late louisiana seafood leader of motivated seafood as our chairman. on h2b visas essential to seafood processors.

senator mikulski captured many of the senators concerns in a letter last week. quote, the lack of available temporary foreign workers has caused chaos among businesses in maryland that depend on the h2b program. more than 40% of maryland's seafood processors have been unable to get the workers they need for the 2015 crab season. i think dr. strain pretty much said it all. and i think that's reflective of the rest of the seafood community in the u.s. on economics seafood is the most globally traded food commodities. that benefits our fishing communities as we send high-quality and bountiful american seafood to northern asia and throughout europe. also benefits the more than 525,000 americans that process, distribute and sell imported seafood. they are an important reminder that trade benefits the u.s. not just when we export. seafood trade also benefit foreign states in two ways.

18% of all soy goes into fish farms, many of those fish farms in asia. and to the countries with which american farmers increasingly seek to send our ag products our countries that export seafood to america. we cannot expect to open asian markets to u.s. pork beef poultry if we shut off access to our seafood markets. seafood safety. a strong supporter in word, indeed. worked closely with academia to best implement. nfi works with the alliance for a stronger fda to urge congress to for the agency to meet statutory obligations. as dr. sullivan fully described, i will not duplicate that discussion. i will close, though, speaking to results.

results afterall, what matters. the centers for disease control analyzed illnesses from all foods. over the five-year period ending in 2010, cdc found that 141 of 122,000 that is 0.001156 or 0.12% illnesses caused by imported seafood. most of us love baseball. but we recall going to the games with our dads. unfortunately, we often came home crest fallen because we rarely ever did. the chance of catching the foul ball. 0.001156 or 0.12%. as an example of effectiveness of fda and while this is the hearing focus not only the fda

captures program i did want to acknowledge the leadership of senator shaheen and ayotte and others on this committee working in a manner to eliminate a program that usda's own risk experts said will not improve public health. both domestic and imported has reduced illnesses to less than two per year. a safe product. it is because of the stringent requirements, a system required for both domestic and imported seafood. a system that requires problems to be fixed thousands of miles away from america not caught at the border. that congress -- some of business key provisions. nfi agrees with congress's determination. thank you. >> thank you very much. and now we'll hear from mr. frank randall. frank, welcome.

>> thank you, chairman vitter. there we go, again. thank you. and for the members not here. ranking member shaheen, senator carden. thank you for inviting me to testify about the guest worker program. the program is a vital part of the survival, is -- this program is a vital -- is vital. this program is vital for the survival of seafood processing, especially in louisiana and maryland. the program, this program -- excuse me, just let me go. >> sure. >> it's vital. i will submit my statements for the record. provide a use of reference for the committee. i'll now provide oral comments. i'm here to express my concerns for the future of my business and other small businesses that struggle daily. starting small.

after four decades the -- work my business allowing me to pull back. hurdles over the last four years were detailed by the commissioner. floods, hurricanes oil spills, lack of product imports from china. but the single most pressing issue has been the lack of labor. i was lucky enough to have the refugees from vietnam come in. brought in roughly 40 to help us get through that time. we came to the 1990s when that started to wane a little bit. we discovered the h2b program and started to bring in the guest workers from mexico. started with 40, dwindled to 30, now we're at 25. i'm here to talk about the h2b guest worker program.

the legal, legal temporary workers. fishing, restaurants, wholesale and retail operations. the attached decorations i've submitted from dr. strain filed in our suit of 2011 against the department of labor gives an overview of the importance of the h2b program to the louisiana economy. h2b application process has been a growing and expensive challenge since took over the initial wage certification from the state in 2008 the process has become increasingly more time consuming and costly. initially, i did the paperwork myself. but now had to turn it over to someone else qualified to -- more qualified to run through the governmental hoops. many people are using legal or international, international immigrant immigration attorneys. immigration attorneys.

the stack of paperwork represents, was submitted on the application for the first cap. for the second, it'd be twice that stack. we missed both caps. our plant was scheduled to open 2015, we're still waiting to see if we can salvage part of it. often we hear the remark, if you pay more money you'll get the labor you need. we feel that isn't the case. it's more about the job than the money in our seafood industry. after missing the cap, both caps, we tried something different. seven prison trustees after one day. one trustee said i'd rather go back to jail than peel crawfish. the warden picked him up,

brought him back we didn't see him again. the remaining trustees continued to shrink until after a two-week effort. now union activity starts to increase and create problems for us. and, recently the nlrb has surfaced in getting involved. we have referenced this in documents that we brought as exhibits. we need urgently we need fixes to save the program for small businesses. the opportunity to fix the problems have already done severe harm in louisiana. some small business may not recover. others may be forced across the border. as in the past we need immediate congressional action to block the new dhs and dol proposals of last wednesday. the workforce coalition submitted a statement we attached as an exhibit.

to resume the returning worker exemption from the annual cap. we also have to return the authority of determining prevailing wages to the states. additionally, we feel we need a seat at the table with dol. just like the national guest workers alliance. the office of advocacy needs to be more aggressive in confronting dhs and dol as policy changes are being discussed. and, you know, part of what came up today as we listen to the testimony is what we have been hearing somehow was caused by a judge industry. we just don't see it that way. we're small people but we do know no matter where it was caused or somehow when something like this happens if there's an error or whatever

people still have their jobs. in our case we're small. we don't survive. there's some got to give and take that's got to take place here. and that's really why i'm here. somebody had to come up and tell you about what's going on back home. the little guys that are having problems. hershey expressed these problems in 2007 on to 2011 when they decided to open up the monterey mexico. and most of the growth already funneled into that plant for their american chocolate is now the america's chocolate. we have one right here. largest employer. uses h2b. missed the cap. and he's struggling. he's trying to make his orders for this year. he's up against -- i'm not saying -- this is good chocolate, needs to stay home. i'd be happy to answer any

questions you may have. >> thanks very much, frank. since you are for such a great world perspective. i know you touched on it in your testimony. walk through the specific concrete impact to your business that the various recent department of labor changes and rulings have had. number two, if you have any reaction so far. if you have any reaction so far of the new department of labor guidance moving forward on wage surveys. >> let me start, it's more of the same. as i see from dol. we've reviewed this stuff. it's stuff that don't work. program rules, 5 75% guarantee. got to turn them back, got to pay them. that doesn't work in louisiana.

as far as the parity if i pay one person this, other person has to be paid the same. we might bring them in at entry level, but give the incentives through peace work. they accelerate, get better, might enter at a nominal rate. but a lot of people get up to these larger rates $12 to $15 an hour. that's attainable. >> just to take those two examples. as far as you know, is any of that mandated by statutory law? or is it just a creation of the department of labor. >> a creation. y'all write the laws, they interpret the laws and we try to say that's not what you meant. you saw me up here in '06, it was easy to predict to see where we were going. the pain is in reality. and the pain to me, i feel it because i'm in it and i can't

get out of it. we got through the process, missed the first gap. i've been at this for half a year trying to make a deadline. i can always start four months before i need them. four months and i've been at it for six months. and i'm still not in the last step, which would gain me access in six weeks to bring them in. the real lifting at the border to determine whether these people really need to come in. you know, we've demonstrated we don't have the workforce here. >> if i can just through the record ask miss wu. we talked about two specific requirements that you mentioned are flat out unworkable in the real world from your perspective. so if you could submit for the record any statutory basis that requires the department of labor to do that. because from what i see, there is none. thank you. go ahead, frank.

>> a lot of this stuff in the coalition paper. what comes to mind is open up a job that starts four months out and you have to take it 20 days to where these people are coming inside of the country. and leave it open. normally, you know, we've demonstrated there are no people that want this job. but, you know these are just some of the few. and what i've offered to dol is, the nga is apparently -- has their ear. let's let small business somehow be in the process so that we don't see the results of a mandate, but we have a team effort to try to move forward. when they impose these things, we feel the pain. a lot of people go out of business. >> right. >> let me ask, both you and dr. strain if you have any specific reaction yet to their new guidance about allowing private, including state surveys. is it workable? is it not? is it reasonable? is it too narrow?

do you have any reaction yet? >> the reaction i have is that we've been using the prevailing wage rate surveys. >> mr. chairman, we've been using the state prevailing wage rate surveys for many years ago. and when you look at the final rule, it says they will be used in limited exceptions. and so now we have several different methodologies to determine a wage rate. simply let us continue to use the wage rate rule. if you look at the seafood industry and the crawfish industry, the state prevailing wage rate as determined by the lsu ag center and my office $8.66. that's a floor. but they're also paid on piecemeal. and you have some -- you have workers that make $12 $15, $18 an hour. this sets a minimum wage. let's not, if you look at what is in the interim rule there, it's complicated. we need to simplify this. >> okay.

and dr. strain i also wanted to touch on my imported seafood safety. it would give states more power to increase seafood inspections for foreign imports. >> yes. >> in conjunction with the federal government. we've talked about this before, essentially empowering you to reinforce the effort of the federal government to put more cops on the beat. we do this in many other areas where the primary regulation is at the federal level. but related state entities can help enforce that. what is your view on that? and how it could improve seafood safety? >> mr. chairman. the american public, when they go to the market, 100% of the proteins for beef and pork and 99% for poultry there's a

special, a specialty thing for poultry if you have a very small amount less than 10% chickens, you can sell them it's very tiny. but all of those proteins are inspected. they have monitored from the farm all the way through slaughter, they expect that slaughter and tested and back traced. the american public believes their seafood they consume is inspected and safe at that same level. if you look at the cdc report and i'm going to quote the press release 2012, says we currently import about 85% of our seafood. reviewed outbreaks from the food born disease outbreak surveillance system from 2005 to 2010. 248 illnesses were linked to

imported food from 15 countries. of those outbreaks, 17 half occurred in '09 and '10. overall fish, 17 outbreaks 17 outbreaks were the most common source of implicated foodborne disease outbreaks, followed by spices. nearly 45 pirs of imported foods causing outbreaks came from asia. the american public assumes we are doing this testing. we know we're not. less than 3% of the imported seafood. 85% of the seafood consumes in the united states is imported and less than 3% is being tested. furthermore, when you look at that particular issue, if you look in a container of seafood there could be in the case of crawfish, there could be up to 20 different lots. 20 different lots different origins coming together. so when you think that it's all a blended product and you take one sample and it is consistent with everything in the container, it is not. and when you look at the

particular issues that we're talking about, we're talking about antibiotics that are banned from the united states such as clonefenacol. chemicals such as malachite green that are banned from the united states. so when you look at that, it is imperative we all be on the same level playing field. and when you start talking about why we need to test this seafood and you say, well, how are we going to stop port shopping, well it's very simple. is that he with need to make sure we have eyes on at the processing level in those foreign countries and i think some of that will take into effect in the future under the food safety modernization act. but that is somewhere in the future. and that container will be accompanied by a certificate stating it has been tested. and if that container comes in and you retest that container and it is not what it says, then it can either return directly and be certified to go back to the country of origin or be destroyed on site. now, our department, i'm responsible, i oversee the department of animal health and

food safety. we have eye food inspection program. we also work hand in hand with the usda, animal plant health inspection service, to where we do joint meat inspection, we do state plans and we can work jointly on federal plants where those products can cross state lines. but i am not permitted to test imported seafood. now, i can look at the containers to make sure that -- and i as the commissioner of the office of metrology weights measures and standards that if there's a pound of seafood in there there's supposed to be a pound. but we're not allowed to take samples and test it for contaminants. so just like we are having a working relationship and we have a cooperative endeavor agreement with the federal government to do the other protein inspection, let us have the same arrangements where my inspectors who are out at those plants looking at other things and we do label inspections for the federal government as well give us the authority under a

cooperative endeavor agreement to be further armed. we have testing labs in louisiana. we do half of the seafood tests. >> so if that were done, which i certainly support and am advocating through my bill, that would be fully consistent with the federal standards. it wouldn't be using different standards in any way. you'd just be additional cops on the beat correct? >> that's correct. and what we do our standards, our procedures are in alignment with the federal procedures. and we should have standards as high as the european union. they test and i bleeb it's up to 15% to 20% of all the products going to the eu. we should meet at least those standards. >> well, thank you all very much. we're going to wrap up. but in doing so let me also ask through the record if dr. solomon could supplement his testimony with a response to this question. dr. strain mentioned the use of chemicals on imported seafood that are banned in the united

states. why shouldn't that practice be presumptive grounds to not allow that seafood into the country? if dr. solomon could respond for the record. thank you all very much. i think this was very informative and productive, particularly focusing on department of labor activity and regulations and the safety regime for seafood imports. thanks very much, and our hearing is adjourned.

this sunday, mother's day beginning at noon eastern c-span presents the children and grandchildren of america's first families, paying tribute to first ladies and remembering life in the white house. susan ford bails, linda johnson robb, caroline kennedy the bush daughters jenna and barbara, and others. here's margaret hoover on her great grandmother, first lady liu hoover. >> unless you study lu henry hoover you don't know she was the first first lady ever to invite an african-american woman

to tea. and it caused a tremendous scandal. it was called the depriest incident. she was the wife of congressman depriest, who had been elected from chicago an african-american couple, and it was the tradition that first ladies always invited all the members of congress's wives to tea. they were quakers. they were socially progressive in the context of their day. on this issue they knew it would be a scandal or it could be a scandal. so they tried to handle it in the right way but decided to go ahead with it because this would be a good move for the country. and it did create an outrage and to make her feel better my great grandfather the next day invited her husband to the white house. so this was the first time an african-american was invited to the white house publicly. teddy roosevelt had invited booker t. washington but it was a secret meeting. >> more of this conversation with children and grandchildren of first families talking about first ladies. sunday at noon eastern on

c-span. up next a panel of legal analysts discusses government surveillance and data gathering technologies in the digital age. they examine the role congress, the courts, and the administration play nen acting rules to protect consumer privacy. american university here in washington, d.c. hosted the discussion last month. >> thanks again to all of you here and those of you watching online. i'm junana musa, the senior counsel with the national association of criminal defense lawyers. if you missed it, but if you're watching online and you have questions you can e-mail them to nacdlquestions@g mail.com. we'll do our best. for those tweeting we've been tweeting with the hashtag fourth amendment. feel free to use that. i want into the deuce the moderator of ore next panel who is gerry morris. owes a sole practitioner in austin tx text who's practiced criminal defense both state and federal for 36 years. he focuses primarily on trial

work but also happens appeals and post-judgment relief. he is the president-elect of nacdl and also currently our fourth amendment advocacy committee co-chair. in addition to fourth amendment work that he does including this symposium which he worked on very closely he also works on indigent defense reform and currently working in travis county texas on a groundbreaking effort to strengthen the aed counsel system there. please welcome him up to the podium. [ applause ] >> thank you. and i want to once again thank american university for dedicating the resources and the staff and all that goes into having us here to put on this symposium. i've asked around and i'm quite confident that this is the most comprehensive symposium on this topic that's ever been held.

that's both rewarding and a bit concerning because this is not new stuff. and the discussion certainly needs to move forward. the topic of this pam is a good segue from the last panel. we talked in the last panel about what is the technology out there for surveillance, data content, location, what are the techniques available to the government and the devices, technology. this panel is basically going talk about what can we as practical advertisingers do about it? how do we challenge the use of these techniques and devices in our cases? like the last moderator i'm not going to give the long introduction because you have the introductions in your materials. our panelists are hanni fakhoury, senior staff attorney

electronic frontier foundation. most of you are familiar with that foundation and what they do. they're on the cutting edge of these issues. also if you look at the materials you were given when you came, in you'll see a copy of the champion. this month's issue of the national association of criminal defense lawyers magazine. there's an article in here by mr. fakhoury that discusses the riley decision and practice steps having to do with that decision. neema singh guliani, counsel american civil liberties union. jim harper senior fellow cato institute. and orrin kerr francis steven research professor of law at george washington university law school. when we were preparing for this panel i proposed three general areas of discussion. the panelists are not limited to these. but to give you an idea of where we're going with this. those areas of discussion are what is the current law, fourth amendment law regarding these