1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Thank you for voting against the legislation that delayed enforcement of the FDA Food Traceability Rule until 2028 and for speaking out against disruptions to federal health agencies. I appreciate that you have already opposed some of the decisions that have weakened our food-safety system. I’m asking you to take the next step and help lead an effort to rebuild that capacity. FDA staffing losses have affected inspections and laboratory work. Foreign food-facility inspections have fallen. CDC surveillance of foodborne illnesses has been reduced. And delaying stronger food-traceability requirements makes it harder to identify the source of contaminated food quickly when outbreaks occur. As California’s senior senator and a member of the Senate Budget Committee, please work with Senator Schiff and colleagues from both parties to: • Restore the original timetable for the FDA Food Traceability Rule. • Protect and restore adequate staffing for FDA food inspections, laboratories, outbreak investigations, and enforcement. • Restore robust CDC surveillance of major foodborne pathogens. • Require transparent reporting on domestic and foreign inspection rates, staffing levels, laboratory capacity, and outbreak-response times. • Support independent GAO or inspector-general review of how recent staffing and inspection reductions have affected food safety. • Use the budget process, legislation, amendments, and oversight to prevent further erosion of federal food-safety capacity. California has a particular stake in getting this right. We are both a major agricultural producer and home to nearly 40 million consumers. When the federal system cannot quickly prevent, detect, and trace contaminated food, California families and California farmers both bear the consequences. I recognize that Congress did not make all of the decisions that created these problems, and no senator can reverse executive actions alone. But Congress controls funding, writes the law, and has an oversight responsibility. Food safety should be an area where Republicans and Democrats can find common ground. I hope you will use your seniority to help build that coalition and work with Senator Schiff to make restoring our food-safety system a California priority. Thank you for what you have already done.