Democratic Chatter 3-14-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Today, in his weekly address to the nation, President Barack Obama discusses food safety in the U.S. and announces several appointments to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Margaret Hamburg will be Commissioner and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein will be deputy Commissioner for the FDA. You can watch his address by clicking on the video below. WhiteHouse.gov has the full text of his speech here.

download .mp3 or .mp4 also available here read transcript

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Lawrence Summers is the newest face from the Obama administration to discuss economic recovery plans - He is the chair of the national economic council and spoke yesterday to the Brookings Institute, a Washington D.C. think tank. He used phrases similar to what President Roosevelt used when he said "the excess of greed had lead to an excess of fear". FDR has said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". Tomorrow morning Mr. Summers will appear on "This Week" and "Face The Nation". If he fares well, look to see Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner moved out the the PR end of things. MSNBC.com has more here.

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Senate Commerce committee to hold confirmation hearing on Gary Locke next Wednesday - Locke is the third appointee of president Obama for the position and is expected to be easily confirmed as Commerce Secretary. Reuters.com has more here.

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Elizabeth King expected to be named by President Obama as head of legislative affairs for the Pentagon - she is the senior policy adviser to Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.). Senator Reed at one point was lloked upon as a possible running mate for Barack Obama. TheHill.com has more here.

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On the foreign policy front, former U.S. foreign policy officials believe U.S. should have dialogue with Hamas - Former national security advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brezinski are among the group of nine former U.S. officials who believe discussions are needed with Hamas to encourage them to disarm and work within the Palestinian authority. They believe this is critical to future peace in the Middle East region. Under the George W. Bush administration, Hamas had been labeled a terrorist organization and communication had ceased. The Boston Globe has more here.

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Democratic Chatter 3-12-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Today, President Barack Obama will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi - joining him will be Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Obama will also address a Business roundtable at the St. Regis Hotel and will answer questions as well. ThePage.Time.com has the full day schedule for the President here.

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New unemployment claims rise to record levels - the Labor Department released more bad news showing 654,000 new claims filed. Unemployment levels have almost doubled from one year ago when 2.8 million Americans were out of work. Today 5.3 million are being reported as unemployed, the highest since 1983. The NY Times has more here.

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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to address Senate Budget Committee today - he will be discussing the Obama budget for 2010. Questions are expected concerning the increase of taxes and record deficits projected. The last time the Treasury Secretary addressed members of Congress, he flopped. Let's see how he does this time. While, he may indeed know his field, his ability to communicate solutions and confidence in solving the dire economic situation has been troublesome for the Obama administration. Margaret Colson of Bloomberg.com has a good read here.

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Margaret Hamburg expected to be named FDA Director - she is a former NY City Health Commissioner. She will also be another former Clinton administration official to be named by President Obama. Politico.com has more here.

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Congressional approval rating doubles since Obama was sworn in as President - the 8 point increase so far this month along with the 12 point increase in February now has the approval rating for Congress at 39%. This is the highest rating since February 2005. Gallup.com has more here.

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Change We Need: Peanut Contamination Demonstrates Need for Oversight Overhaul

Ann-Marie Luciano Bio

Yesterday, federal investigators revealed that Peanut Corporation of America knowingly shipped products with salmonella from its Blakely, Georgia plant after tests showed the products were contaminated. The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Peanut Corp., which is the least that could be done considering the damage caused: 575 people sick, at least eight deaths and the recall of approximately 1,550 products.

Salmonella contamination isn't the only problem that has plagued Peanut Corp. In 2001, FDA inspectors discovered that some food products potentially were exposed to insecticides. Inspectors found dead insects near peanuts, holes in the plant large enough for rodents to enter, dirty duct tape on broken equipment and discovered that the plant used an insecticide fogger in food processing areas without washing the exposed food processing equipment. Yuck. If this weren't bad enough, various USDA "contract auditors" had been making visits to the plant and knew about the insecticide fogger and approved of the use of duct tape on broken equipment.

What did the FDA do in response? Nothing. They allowed Peanut Corp. to fix the problems on their own because there was no direct evidence that finished food products were being contaminated.

These food contamination issues at Peanut Corp. demonstrate two main problems with U.S. food safety: (1) food regulation is inefficiently split between the FDA and USDA, leaving regulatory gaps; and (2) food "regulation" is often more guidance and less actual regulation.

Luckily, the change in administration will likely bring a change in food safety policy and regulation. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said this week that he supports merging the nation's food safety system into one agency. This is a great first step. But if a new, centralized agency continues to favor voluntary compliance and remediation, how can we be guaranteed that food manufacturers are following the rules? A lot hinges on the staffers and leaders who will be working in any new combined agency.

Under the Bush administration, the USDA was run by former lobbyists for factory farmers and large food producers, as well as leaders from the "big food" industry itself. (The current Deputy Secretary of Agriculture is the former president of the Corn Refiners Association and the Chief of Staff is the former chief lobbyist for the National Cattelmen's Beef Association). If Secretary Vilsack ushers in a group of staffers who are committed to ensuring the safety of our nation's food supply rather than beholden to any special interest, then hopefully our food policy finally will evolve to put the American consumer first. I just hope that it doesn't take yet another major food contamination to spark the change we need.

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